strings
by fox2099
Summary: my favorite shingeki no kyojin ships in university
1. Chapter 1

few friends

She never did talk to anyone but then again nether did he. Here it was at lest a month in to there freshman year of university and people like Armin and Annie had only made a few friends. Armin had Eren and Mikasa, while Annie had Reiner and Bertolt. As he contemplated this he didn't notice the bell tole for class to end.

"Hey Armin... ARMIN!, WAKE UP"

He was suddenly pulled back to reality by his genuinely concerned childhood friend Eren Yeager. next to him stood the always calm Mikasa, Eren's girlfriend and unofficially adopted sister.

"Wha.. oh ya just give me a sec," Armin said as gathered his books and offered one last look at Annie's seat. As the three walked back to the dorms Eren suddenly got a text from Reiner reminding him of football practice, by all standers eren was not that good of a wide receiver, but he sure was determined. eren quickly said his good buys and ran off to the practice field, leaving Armin and Mikasa in silence.  
Breaking the silence Mikasa asked "you like Annie don't you?"

"Mikasa wh.. what gave you a crazy idea like that?" Armin said trying to cover up the fact that he did in fact have a big crush on Annie.

"Armin" Mikasa said in the most tender voice he had ever heard come out of her mouth, "I can see the way you look at her. If your going to talk to her then just talk to her." advice given Mikasa cleared the space to women's dorms, leaving Armin to think about what she had said and what he should do.


	2. Chapter 2

just talk to her, easier said then done, how could he do that it was him. it was at times like this that armin would go to the one place he was always welcome, the university study rooms.  
each room had an assortment of different things in order to cater to different subject, the science study rooms were filled with lots of lab equipment, the math study rooms were filled with all kinds of mathematics equations and tools, the music study room had a number of stands and even a piano, and finally the language room was filled with books this is where armin spent most of his time.  
as he sat in a plush couch and read it suddenly dawned on him that it wasn't quiet like usual, there was the sound of a signal violin that could be heard echoing through the halls. each note seemed to be played with such pain and passion it almost brought a tear to his eyes.  
armin in curiosity went in search of the music, following its sound to the end of the hall where the music room sat. in the room he saw a lone figure turned away from the door passionately preforming a part from what he could recall as a part of Mozart's 40th symphony. the figure seemed to be pouring all of themselves into the piece, adding in sections, replacing others swaying with each note, each count even.  
so lost in there passion the figure didn't notice when armin slowly slipped in to the room for a better listen. he didn't know how long he stood there listening to the figures beautiful melody. it wasn't until the figure finished the peace and at the sound of clapping from armin did they tern notice he was there. the figure slowly turned around to see who was there revealing themselves to be Annie leonhart.  
finally realizing who it was armin blushed under Annie stern questioning gaze.  
"hey annie" armin stammer. "you played really well"  
"oh ...a ... tha .. thank you armin" she replayed. his heart jumped when he realized that she knew his name"  
"do you play?" annie asked after a short silence.  
"well i know a little piano" armin said not sure what to do.  
"could you play something for me; i mean if you want" she said brushing a lock of hair away from her face.  
"uh ... well i guess i could play something" armin said confidence streaming into him as he made his way to the piano at the back of the room.


	3. Chapter 3

as armin ran his fingers nimblaly over the ivory piano keys he tryed to poure himself into the peace he was playing. he tyed not to be to emberesed as annie watched from a side. when he fineshed the piece and looked at annie he saw her wide eyed in amazment

"wow ive never heard that peice played so well in my life, how long have you been playing" annie said still in shock.

"uh well thanks, to be honest a cupple of years but.."armin began to say.

annie exclamed "wow a few years thats amaz.." realizing that she was geting exited she abroplly stoped and cleared her throught and said "well ah i guess ive got to get going but it was ..a ..good talking to you, mabey hit me up and well talk again, ok" handing him a slip of paper with her number on it she grabed her violin and made her way out.  
shocked at these new developmints, all armin could was stand there and stere at her number.

as he walked back to the shiganshina dorms he shared with eren he suddenlly realised that the stost dorms were on fire! armin quikly recovered from the sock and made his way to his dorm. in the lobey people were standing around mumbeling. armin finally picked eren out of the croude.

"what happened" armin asked "is everyone ok"

"ya everyones fine" eren responded to armins reliefe "but there is a problem"

"what, whats the matter" armin said fear rising in him.

"well basiklly this means theres going to have another guy in our dorm untill trost is rebilt, and you know how long that can said sounding anyed.

"well thats ok, whos staying with us." armin asked

"ah it might be better you meat him yourself."eren said, at this the two went back to there dorm. when armin entered the small 3 room dorm (genereslly payed for by erens father ) he came face to face with a tall young brown hair man who introducer himself as jean kirstein.


	4. Chapter 4

Jean was from a small county where he was raised by his mother. At least, that's what he told Armin and Eren as they sat around the kitchen table drinking coffee, trying to avoid the big questions, like where was Jean going to sleep and how did Trost catch fire.

It was evident that Eren and Jean didn't get along. From what Armin could pick up, it was because Eren was chosen as top wide receiver for the football team instead of Jean, but little did Armin know that it went further then just that. After much deliberation, it was decided that, much to Jean's hatred, that Jean would be sleeping on the couch in their dorms.

The next morning, Armin finally got wind of the cause of the Trost fire: some students from Titan School were messing around near the dorms and ended up lighting the entire place on fire.

For as long as anyone could remember, the schools have been bitter rivals for everything, from sports to poetry, and on occasions like these were when it got out of hand.

While in his chemistry class, Reiner asked if he could borrow an eraser, and as Armin dug around in his bag to look for one, he once again discovered the note Annie had written to him with her number on it. He stared at it until Reiner said:

"Wow, you got a girl's number; nice going little buddy! Way to go!" He patted Armin on the back. "So when you gonna call her?"

"Should I even," Armin said in a weak voice, putting his thoughts to word.

"Of course you should call her; why wouldn't you?" Reiner asked.

"Well, I don't know, but-" Armin began, but he was cut off by the sound of the bell toll marking the end of the day.  
Before Armin could continue, Reiner said, "Here, I'll tell you what: I'll be with you when you call her. You know, to guide you through the steps. Come on, I know you can do it."

"You know what, you're right. I can do this," Armin said feeling a surge of confidence rush through him.

"That's the spirit," Reiner said, patting Armin again.  
When they got to the dorms, Reiner pushed Armin to the phone. "Go get her," he said.  
Armin took a few deep breaths as he grabbed the phone and typed Annie's number. After two rings, someone finally picked up.

"Hello?" Annie's voice asked.

"Hey Annie," Armin said, trying to sound confident.

"Oh, hi, Armin, what's up," Annie said. As small amount a joy could be heard in her voice.

"Nothing much, I was just wondering if you wanted to go get some coffee some time. I mean, I get it if you don't," Armin said.

"Oh yeah, coffee sounds great. Meet me by the fountain at eight o'clock tomorrow, okay?" Annie said.

"Yeah, sure," Armin replied.

"See you then, bye~" Annie said as she hung up.

Once Armin hung up, Reiner said, "Nice job, you got a date! How do you feel?"

"I... I feel great," Armin said getting a high five from Reiner.


	5. Chapter 5

"Are you sure you can do this,"Eren asked Armin as he got ready for his "date" with Annie.

"Hay ease off him you suicidal bastard," Jean yelled from the kitchen. It had almost become natural for the to fight about everything.

"Shut your horse face...,"Eren spat as Armin let himself out of the dorm a half hour to eight. Armin set out for the big fountain in the center of campus.  
When he finally arrived at the fountain, he was surprised to see Annie with out her usual gray hoody, instead switching it for for a black and red plaid shirt over a black top along with a pair of black jeans.

Armin had decided to where a faded pair of blue jeans and a nice white shirt as well as his usual brown school jacket. As he approached Annie he also noticed she was wearing makeup, something that he had never seen her with. "Wow you look... beautiful," Armin said mesmerized.

"Oh thank you Armin," she said brushing a lock of hair away from her face. She took the arm Armin offered her with somewhat hesitation and so they began the short walk to the cafe just a few blocks from the university. As they sat at a small table outside the cafe they spoke about trivial things : the weather, the service, school, and even life away from school.

Annie was at first very shy but after a little time she became more comfortable, at which point she even began to smile and laugh {a rare sight to see} at the trouble Eren and Jean got in witch Armin described. It wasn't until he asked her about what her family was like did her smile fade, "That's ..a..kinda sensitive subject," Annie said dropping her gaze to the table.

"Why," Armin asked, his inquisitive nature getting the better of him. At this Annie looked back up at him, they held each others gaze until they both realized they were each blushing and so they broke eye contact.

When Armin finally dared to look her in the eyes again, to his surprise she was smiling at him once again, "You have the most interesting mind I've ever encountered," Annie said ,causing Armin to grin from ear to ear like a fool.  
As they continued there coffee and discussion suddenly Annie's phone which lay on the table began to buzz. Annie picked it up and read it a frown creeping on her face.

"Something wrong," Armin asked a slight tint of concern in his voice.

"No..i ..just somethings come up," she said grabbing her bag and throwing a $20 bill on the table. "Thanks for the coffee, lets do it again some time," and with that she she left. For a few moments Armin thought of going after like what he had always seen in those movies. He eventually decided against it and went back to the dorm.


	6. Chapter 6

armin walked through the doors in the local theater he noticed a large number of people standing around waiting for the show to start. he quickly made his way to the balcony closest to the stage. soon after he had gotten comfortable in the soft velvet seats the show began.

the first orchestra to step out was a large chamber group comprised of many violines, a few lower string instruments and a small cluster of wind instruments, but no annie. the orchestra played a few tunes and then exited the stage. when the orchestra left a very pudgy man in a tuxedo stepped out and address the additions.

"please another round of applause for the sina chamber orchestra" said the pudgy man "now it is my privilege to introduce the shiganshina small chamber orchestra" as he said this armin could see four figures standing just off stage. one of them he could feel was annie.

as the four stepped on to the stage armin was taken back, there just below him stood annie her hair laying across her shoulders shining like gold under the bright lights of the stage. on her left stood a much taller woman with a hight brown ponytail holding a large tuba. on annie's right there stood a short blonde haired girl holding an oboe. furthest from annie stood a light brown haired woman holding a what looked like a viola. they all wore long black dresses, they bowed and sat themselves in a semi-circle facing each other.

the short brown haired woman seemed to be in charge, taking the lead she gave the speed and cues to the others. armin was mesmerised by the movement of annie's bow, each swipe of the bow on the strings gave a loud resonating sound that filled the hall.

after the concert ended armin waited outside the hall until he saw annie. she seemed so caught up in her musiciens high that she didn't notice him until he was standing next to her.

"that was very beautiful" armin said

"well i don't kno.. **wait armin what are you doing here!** " annie said in shock

" **suprise**!" armin said a large grin on his face "i didn't know you had a performance today, even more i didn't know that you were part of a chamber group"

"well i just… i didn't think you would want to come… and just well you know" annie said dropping her head. armin suddenly remembered what renir had told him once " _when the right moment comes, don't be afraid to take it, make your move and above all don't think about it just go on instinct"_ was this that moment armin thought it has to be. without fear armin lifted annie's eyes to look into his. he slowly inched towards her. they're lips were a heartbeat apart. out of nowhere someone yelled " **ahhh yeahhh"**. armin and annie both looked in the direction of the sound to see the rest of annie's chamber group approaching them.

"so who is this annie, hmm is he your lover" said the short brown haired woman.

"oh come on hitch la.." the short blonde girl said before being cut off by annie

"no it.. its nothing like that" annie said her face turning noticeably red.

"well then who is this annie?" asked the tall brown haired woman.

annie sighed in defeat, knowing that she would not be able to escape or hear the end of this. the only thing she could do is introduce them. "alright this is armin" she said gesturing to armin.

"armin, this is hitch" she said pointing at the short brown haired woman, that's sasha, she said pointing to the tall brown haired woman and this is christa she said finally pointing to the small blonde haired girl.

"its nice to meet you all" armin said trying to be polite.

suddenly there came the honking of a car in the parking lot " oh hey that's malow" said hitch as they started walking to the parking lot "you coming annie"

"umm… no i'll catch up a later" she said looking at armin

as the car sped away sasha leaned out the window and yelled "see you at the dorm, **and don't stay out too late**!"

after a few moments armin looked at annie and they both started laughing at how awkward that had been, slowly they walked back to campus hand in hand.


	7. Chapter 7

as armin and annie continued to make there way back to the campus hand in hand. as they walked annie started taking them a different direction than that of the campus. finally they arrived at a park a short distance from the campus, annie's feet instinctively carried her to a large tree. "wow" armin said "that's a big tree" looking up at the old tree.

"ya, i remember my father used to bring me here when i was a kid" annie said resting her hand on the tree. slowly annie slid down to sit in the tangled mess of roots, apprehensively armin sat down next to her. slowly and casually annie placed her head on armins shoulder. armin shuddered but before annie could notice he regained his composure. "so what did you actually think" annie asked looking up at armin.

"you already know what i think" armin said playfully poking annie on the nose.

"ya, but i wanna hear you say it again" annie said scooting up closer to armin.

"you sure you wanna know" armin said

"definitely" annie said without hesitation. without a second thought armin leaned down and kissed annie full on the lips. everything seemed to fall away except for him and annie. her lips were warm and soft. annie seemed shocked but did not pull away, infact after a moment she even started to return the kiss. slowly she moved hand and started brushing it through his messy hair. armin pulled her closer him deepening the kiss. they stayed this way for what seemed a long time.

finally they separated and looked into each other's eyes. they could both feel that this was the right. annie began to blush and looked away too embarrassed to keep looking. nether of them said anything nor moved only enjoying the feeling of being together.

after a few minutes annie's phone went off shocking them both. annie quickly answered it, even from where armin was sitting he could hear the hysterical voice of sasha yelling at annie to get back to the dorm. armin quickly looked at his phone and realised it was already eleven thirty. as he put his phone away annie hung up. "that was shash" annie said "and she's pretty mad"

"ya i heard"armin said rubbing the back of his head " we should probably get back to campus.

"ya probably" annie said getting up and dusting the dirt off herself. armin too got up and they both went back to campus.

when they got back to campus where their paths diverged annie said "was that awkward" sounding a little scared.

"not at all" armin said kissing annie again this time though he was a little more conscious of what he was doing. when their lips parted annie quickly looked down and started making her way to the girls dorm.

as armin walked back to his dorm he felt on top of the world, like he could take on anything, like nothing was impossible. he also decided that he had to thank reiner. all these thoughts swirled in his mind as he finally got home.


	8. Chapter 8

it was two days after armin and annie had shared their moment in the park. armin was sitting at home doing work for his next day's classes when eren came in. "hey eren" armin said

"hey armin, what you working on" eren said sitting down across from him.

"just a paper for history" armin said taking the moment to relax from his work.

"you doing anything friday night" eren said

"no" armin said already apprehensive of eren's intentions "why, what are you up to" armin said.

"well you see me and mikasa had this great idea; that you and annie come with us to the fair on friday. what do you think. eren said grinning at the idea.

" _the fair, what should i say would annie want to go, i know she hates being in crowds" armin thought._

"here i'll go talk to annie see what she wants to do" armin said getting up to go.

"right tell me what she says" eren said "oh and here" eren said pulling a flower from the flower pot on the table and giving it to him "give this to her."

as armin walked to the performing arts building, he thought about what he was going to say " _would you like to go on another date with me to the fair" no that doesn't sound right_

" _are you busy on the weekend…. well then do you want to go to the fair….if you want it to be a date, sure" no that's not it either_

" _would you like to go hang out friday night" that's definitely not it. come on it can't be that hard i mean you already kissed her shouldn't it be easy, apparently not._

finally armin arrived at the performing arts building. it was a very big and old building with several sound rooms and stages and even a stage for the various classes and clubs to practice and perform in.

armin sat down at one of the many tables that were set around the building to wait for annie to get out of class. after some time students began to exit the building, but annie was not one of them, but armin did recognise krista.

quickly armi made his way to her "good evening, keista" armin said

"oh good evening armin!" krista said with her usual happy smile, armin found it amazing how she could be so happy all the time. "how has your day been" krista said bringing armin back to the real world.

"um fine i guess" armin said "you haven't seen annie have you." for a moment it looked like her smile faded but it was to fast to been sure.

"well..hm " krista said a little unsure of something "look annie and hitch got into an argument and it got bad."

"what, how bad?"armin asked panic overwhelming him "is she ok"

"i.. i don't know she stormed out out before things got physical it took me and sasha a while to get hitch to settle down, we have no idea where annie went. i think she's still in the building though"

"right,thanks krista" armin said running up the stairs to the building. for the next couple of hours armin searched the building.

finally he got to the roof where he saw her sitting with her knees up. "annie?" armin said "are you ok?" armin said sitting down next to her.

"i'm fine" annie said turning away from armin. she quickly got up and began to leave. without thinking armin grabbed her sleeve, quickly she turned around and in one quick movement armin pulled her into a hug.

annie shuddered as armin pulled her into a hug but was suddenly overtaken by his warmth his body let off and his smell, like that of spice latte on a cold morning. slowly she rested her forehead on his chest, once again shuddering when she felt him rest his chin on her head enveloping her more in his smell and feel.

slowly armin raised her face to look at him "don't let hitch bug you,o.k" he said puting the flower he broght in her hair "it's not healthy for you and her to do this"

"i know" annie said "it's just she irritates me so much"

"i know" armin said "but you're just going to have to deal with her, now come on it's going to start getting cold" annie simply nodded and began walking towards the door with armin close beside.

when they finally got to the girls dorms armin gave her one more hug and kiss goodnight and she started leaving, until armin remembered why he was looking for her.

"wait annie are you busy on friday!, if not would you want to come with me to the fair?" armin said

"the fair?" annie asked slowly a smile came across her face "yeah, that'd be great" annie said

"great" armin said i'll see you at four then"

"o.k, goodnight armin" annie said entering the dorm and leaving armin to ponder everything that had occurred that day.


	9. Chapter 9

it was two days after the incident with annie and hitch, armin was sitting in the dorm watching the news with jean when eren and jean's "friend" marco entered. eren instantly went to his room, with football practice happening on a every other day basis eren was expectedly tiered. marco and jean embraced each other and sat down.

"hey armin i heard you and annie were going to the fair on the weekend, am i right?" marco asked trying to probe armin's mind.

"well… actually ya" armin said "how'd you know"

"i was talking to sasha about you two" marco said "i think you two are cute together"

"getting wrapped up in dramatic gossip again?" jean said patting marco on the head teasingly.

"you know, anyway i came to talk to you armin i think this is your chance to impress annie, what do you think?"

"like how" armin asked trying to hide his curiosity.

"you see in these magazines i've been reading says that women love a man who looks, acts and even smells like he can take care of them" marco said his smile growing bigger.

"what kinds of magazines are those?" jean asked genuinely sounding confused.

"thats besides the point, so what do you think armin you wanna impress annie?" marco said

"well… i guess i couldn't hurt" armin said

"great!, let's go" marco said getting up and pulling armin up with him " you gonna come jean?"

"na I gotta get to work as it is" jean said

"Right see ya later" Marco said dragging Armin out. As they walked off campus the suddenly ran into mikasa

"Well hello mikasa" Marco said "don't you look beautiful today"

"Hello marco" mikasa said a surprising smile on her face. "what are you two up to"

"Oh nothing much just going out to get Armin some nice clothes for his date, you wanna come" marco said nudging mikasa, she thought for a moment and.

finally she said "ya sure, i might as well"

"great!" marco said taking the lead.

they walked to the train stop where they caught a bus into the inner city. when they got to the city the walked the short distance to the mall.

the mall by all standards was not that big but it definitely had all that they needed.

after spending at least an hour of choosing clothes that ranged from tee shirts to full on pimp suits they finally agreed on a pair of jeans and a nice shirt.

as leaving the mall marco suddenly exclaimed "i'm hungry let's get something to eat"

"i don't know" mikasa said apprehensively

"ah come one" marco said "my treat" mikasa looked at armin for his answer.

with a small smile armin said "alright i'm game"

"great!" marco said happily walking down the street to a small restaurant called Dauper foods. a small little known restaurant chain that mostly sold exotic meats witch the shop often boasted that all it's food was killed and fresh.

when they entered the shop it was evident that it was an old style restaurant. it had a strange woodland feel, but somewhat homie. they seated themselves and waited for the server to come and take their orders.

"whatcha reading" armin heard whispered in his ear. shock he and mikasa both turned around in shock and in armin's case fear to see sasha. sasha and marco both started hysterically laughing to the point where they were out of breath.

"that wasn't funny" armin said as sasha sat down across next to marco still laughing.

"oh it was a little funny" marco said between laughs

suddenly from the kitchen they heard a rough voice yell " **sasha**! you better be workin and not messing round again or you're workin overtime, **again!** "

"gacha" sasha yelled back to the kitchen

"so what can i get for ya'll" she said getting a small notepad out.

they all stared at her for a moment then began to laugh. "i..ah.. i didn't know you worked here" marco said between giggles

"ya almost like she don't work non at all" a big man with shaggy brown hair, a thin goatee, and brown eyes said sasha suddenly went pale looking back at the big man

"hey papa" sasha said a scared tone in her voice " uh these ere my friends from school. guys this is my pa"

"Mr. Blouse, nice a meat ya" mr. blouse said extending his hand to them. they all politely introduced themselves before mr. blouse looked back at sasha and said with a sigh "go ahead nd take a break but if anyone else come in you tend to em, got it.

sasha nodded slightly and sat down "so what i get y'all" asked taking out his own note pad.

after they were all brought their food marco said "i didn't know you worked here"

"ya papa has me work here to pay off my college bills, so you know." sasha said "honestly it would be a little embarrassing if anyone know"

"no i think it's great" armin said "i mean you're getting work experience"

"ya i guess" sasha said suddenly she lit up as mikasa handed her a loaf of bread that she accepted and began to nibble on with a smile.

while they were relaxing with some coffee another couple entered and sasha had to tend to them, marco also left to go to the restroom.

it was then that mikasa said " armin, can i ask you something?"

"sure" armin said taking another sip of his coffee

"do you love annie" mikasa asked looking at armin dead in the eyes.

"wha.. what" armin stammered

"do..you..love..annie" mikasa asked again

" _do i love annie, of course i do right….._


	10. Chapter 10

_do i love annie, of course i do ... right?_ armin sat thinking for the next couple of minutes. he was so lost in thought that he didn't even notice when marco and sasha sat back down.

finally they decided it was time to go, they gathered their belongings, said goodbye to sasha and set off to the campus. as they walked mikasa periodically looked at armin as if to say she was still waiting for an answer. when they did get back to the campus they all went their separate ways marco to his dorm, mikasa to her's but armin decided that hed go for a walk.

eventually armin's feet carried him to the top of a small hill just outside of the campus, from here he could see the almost the whole school. he sat down at the top of the hill to just think.

" _do you love annie?"_ these words circled in his mind " _of course i love her, don't i?"_ armin could feel something for her in his heart for her but he wasn't sure if it was love. he had never loved someone like this, which was to say that he had never had a girlfriend. he knew that he at least liked being near her and he knew that he was always a little happier to see her smile, even if it were for a moment. " _in the end isn't that what love is, when you like being near someone. when it brightens your day to see them happy"_ armin thought

"alright if that's not what love is then i have no idea what it is" armin finally said to himself. slowly getting up and dusting himself off he made his way back to the dorm.

as armin entered the dorm he suddenly realised that mikasa was sitting there in the kitchen with a hot pot of what smelled like tea. all the lights in the dorm were off except for the small lamp in the kitchen.

slowly amin sat down at the table across from mikasa. she slowly slid a cup over to him full of tea. "where'd eren and jean go" armin asked taking the tea and taking a sip.

taking her time mikasa took a long sip from her own tea, finally after a few tense moments she replied "at football practice" suddenly armin remembered eren and jean mentioning this. "so have you thought about my question?"

"i have" armin said meeting her iron gaze "i don't know if it's love but i do like spending time with her and in the end i think that's the most important thing."

"i see" mikasa said stirring straight into armin's eyes "just make sure you know everything especially the bad parts" with that said mikasa downed the last of her tea and exited the dorm without another word leaving armin to his thoughts.


	11. Chapter 11

It was finally the day, friday the last period of the day. Armin sat in his seat patiently waiting for the class to end so he could go back to the dorm and get ready for his date with Annie. He and Eren had gone to get the tickets just the night befor.

With only a half hour till the class ended the teacher let them go do the assignment, instantly Reiner sat down next to Armin. "So i heard from a "shadow" that you and Annie are going out tonight" Reiner said a slight smile creeping on his face.

"Well i don't know what "shadow" that would be, but he apparently knows his stuff" Armin said a little embarrassed at how loud Reiner was speaking.

"Well let just say the "shadow" gets around" Reiner said

"Does this "shadow" have a name?" Armin asked half focusing

"Ha, you know the rules" Reiner said sarcastically

"Alright how about a hint?" Armin said his mind turning for the answer, " _it has to be someone both Annie_ _ **and**_ _Reiner know, but who?"_

"Alright" Reiner said "But don't say i don't do anything for you, his last name is.." suddenly the instructor by the name of mr. Keith stood above both of them his eyes warning them to remain on task.

Mr. Keith Shadis was notorious for his scary completion and having made Sasha run two miles the first week of class so he was someone both Armin and Reiner feared.

"So Arlert, Braun" Mr. Keith said in a stern tone "There better be a good reason you are talking in my class"

"well you see Mr. keith" Reiner started saying

suddenly stopped Reiner as he said "That's enough, you both just earned yourselves a three hour detainment"

Armin was stunned " _no this can't be happening, i have a date!"_ Armin was pulled out of his thoughts when he heard Reiner say "That not fair!"

"Four hours" Mr. Keith said

"But.." Reiner began again

"Five, you wanna keep adding to that?" said his stern voice cutting armin down like a dead branch.

Reiner was about to say something else until Armin covered his mouth with his hand.

"Good choice" said walking away "And i will find you if you try skipping"

Reiner looked at Armin apologetically but Armin just dropped his head to the desk in defeat.

Armin and Reiner sat in the classroom waiting for to assign them to their detainments there were others in detainment as well, one being Sasha.

"Arlert, Braus!" yelled "Your detainment is... kitchen dooty, ha you'll love this one Braus. Report to Pixis, dismissed"

Armin and Sasha both left the room heading for the kitchen. "So what you in for" sasha asked trying to make the best of a rough situation. "No wait let me guess" she took a moment then said "Oh i've got it for doing work for another class,right"

Armin now a little amused decided to play along with her game "Nope" he said "Try again"

"Ok i've got this" Sasha said closing her eyes and rubbing her temples "Oh oh i've got it now. you're in for goofing around"

"Close" Armin said "But nope"

"Dang it!" Sasha said "Alright i give up"

"Talking in class" Armin said defeating Sasha

"Ah that was my next guess" she said lightly pushing Armin

"Sure it was"Armin said pushing Sasha back playfully

"Well i bet you can't guess what i'm in for" Sasha said as if it were impossible

"Easy" Armin said "Eating in class" he hit it right on the nose but they had already arrived at the kitchen. They entered through the big metal doors to find the kitchen empty, safe for a lode of potatoes. Sasha mesmerised by the spuds began advancing on them.

As she grabbed on there was suddenly a loud smack. Sash quickly pulled away like a frightened cat. From behind the mountain of potatoes was Dot Pixis. The bold walrus moustached man had a large grin on his face. "Ha, got you good didn't I Braus" Pixis said laughing. "So what can i do for you two"

"We were sent here for our detainment" Sasha said

"Great! Grab a peeler and get to work" Pixis said gesturing to the table of potatoes. "And don't eat any Braus, i'm watching you"

Eren, Mikasa and Annie were waiting in the dorm for Armin to get back from class. When the door suddenly opened and Annie's eyes lit up. Her hopes were dashed when she realised it was just Jean.

"Hey have you seen Armin?" Eren asked Jean as he came in

Jean thought for a moment and then said "Actually…"


	12. Chapter 12

_forty one….forty two….forty three…._

Armin thought as he sat on his uncomfortable squeaky stool, the smell of sweat and potato clouded his nostales. The inaudible murmuring of Sasha to a potato filled the kitchen as they sat at the table peeling potato's as part of their detainment from Mr. Keith.

Finally after what felt like an eternity Pixis got up from his big black chair and moved to the where Armin and Sasha were peeling to see their progress.

"Alright Braus your time is up." Pixis said with a grin "Get out of here, and stay out of trouble."

Sasha got up and began to leave only stopping next to armin to say " I'll tell Annie, if you want me to?"

Armin looked up at her from the potato he was working on and said "No i'll tell her myself."

"Alright" Sasha said "Good luck."

"Thanks Sasha." Armin said as she walked out the kitchen door.

"Are you sure?" Eren asked when Jean finished his story. Apparently he had overheard yelling at Armin and Reiner, giving them their detainment.

"I don't think I can believe that." Mikasa said "Armin isn't the type to get a detainment, especially from Keith."

"but Reiner is…." Annie said almost to herself. Quickly she got up and was out the door in a flash, almost bumping into Sasha as she left. Eren, Mikasa, Jean and Sasha were all calling after her, but she heard none of their frantic calls, she had to find Armin….

 _sixty eight….sixty nine….seventy…._

Armin still sat in the kitchen, in his endless potato hell. " _Why me, what did I do to deserve this?"_ Armin thought as he shifted on his stool it made a squeak.

"It wasn't my fault that Reiner was talking back to Keith."

 _squeak_

"There's no way Annie will even consider looking at me after this."

 _squeak_

"She probably hates me for standing her up."

 _squeak_

"Screw you, you're just a stool!"

"Come on put your back into it!" Reiner's inforcer, a short forceful upperclassmen, yelled as they cleaned the windows of all the classrooms.

"This is hell." Reiner said under his breath. Suddenly a figure burst through the hall stopping in front of the upperclassmen speaking to him briefly. With a scoule the upperclassmen directed the figure to Reiner. At this point reiner realised it was Annie.

Quickly she made her way to Reiner and said "quick Reiner, where is Armin!"

"He and Sasha were sent to the kitchen." Reiner said "Hurry." quickly Annie bolted down the hall in the direction of the kitchen.

"Good luck." Reiner said as he watched her run away.

 _one hundred ten….one hundred eleven….one hundred twelve_

Armin still sat in his stool peeling away. Suddenly Pixis said "Alright Arlet your done, go home."

It took Armin a moment to process what Pixis just said. It finally dawned on him. " _You can go explain to Annie now!"_ he thought slowly he got up and began to leave. His legs began to push him faster and faster. Eventually he was a going at a fast jog through the halls towards the dorms.

Suddenly everything everything stopped, as if in slow motion Armin looked around and found Annie clinging to him in a tender embrace. Joy slowlly turned to fear as he realised they were both falling back, down one of the flights of stairs.

Annie felt overwhelmed as she ran into Armin's arms, being enveloped in his embrace felt like home. Suddenly she felt Armin pulling her into a much tighter embrace and then full freefall.

When Annie finally came to she saw that she and Armin had fallen down a steep staircase. She felt a few bruises and scrapes but nothing to bad. It wasn't till she looked at Armin did she realise how bad it really was. Armin was unconscious a small trickle of blood on his forehead.

Slowly Annie shook Armin trying to wake him but to no avail. Annie began to panic as she kept shaking Armin. Suddenly several large shadows appeared above her at the top of the stair case. As the shadows ran down the stairs Annie recognised Eren, Mikasa, Jean, Sasha and Reiner. Her friends quickly picked Armin up off the ground and began to carry him to the infirmary. Suddenly Annie's strength began to fade and she slumped over against Mikasa.

Armin woke with a sudden jolt as he sat up in an unfamiliar bed. He looked around and recognised the room as one of the infirmary, he lay back down to rest until he remembered the events of the previous night. Armin got up in a flash stumbling, he had to find Annie!

Out of nowhere an arm grabbed him to stabilize him. Looking over Armin saw Eren with dark rings under his eyes _"had he been sitting here all night"_. Eren slowly guided Armin to the next room where he saw Annie. She was sleeping in the bed so peacefully, beside her Armin recognised Reiner. Renier quickly got Armin a chair and set it down at Annie's bed side.

Eren and Reiner stepped out of the room leaving Armin and Annie alone.

Armin finally found his voice and said to an unconscious Annie "I….i'm so sorry, this is all my fault, please forgive me" Armin slumped over in his chair putting his head against the bed.

Armin felt a pair of soft hands lift his head. Hope flooded into his heart as the hands lifted his head he saw Annie looking back at him, as beautiful as the day he first saw her.

"I already did" Annie said. she was shocked when Armin pulled her into the embrace that felt so much like home.

 **alright that's all that i had planned to write i might have a few more ideas, if you want me to continue please let me know in the comments, thanks for reading!**


	13. Chapter 13 return

Hello people!

It's been a long time since I started this story but I have spent the last year improving my writing. I have been working on my ideas. So I wanted to come back to this. I just want to know if i could give this story another shot.

Let me know in the comments of this post, thank you

Fox


	14. new start chapter 1

New start

Chapter 1

The snow fell silently to the ground, light as feather each with its own unique shape. Armin sat in quiet admiration. It was now mid-December, and the third quarter would be over in a week's time.

With the quarter coming to a close Armin took a moment to reflect on all that had happened in the last few months. Since the start of the first second quarter, he and Annie had begun to see each other more often slowly breaking Annies walls and intern making Armin a little bolder. Aswell Armin and Annie had begun living together off campus in one of the apartments close to the college, along with Eren and Mikasa.

Most days it was fine but every now and again things became heated. It was most often a conflict of opinion between Annie and Mikasa. Often times they would circle each other ready to strike like two panthers stuck in deadlock until Armin or even would pull them out. Often they would get into conflict only to claim it as a discussion.

Another usual occurrence these days was the presence of Jean and Marco who lived in the same building; as well as Sasha whose family owned shop was only a Stone's throw away.

In the past few months, Armin and Annie had become much closer to the point where the no longer felt awkward around each other. Slowly and bit by bit they crossed more and more barrier at this point they were at least past the touch barrier. Most days after class they found themselves snuggled together on the couch watching movies, reading or just enjoying each others company.

Armin found all these, the good and the bad somewhat comforting. Armin was pulled out of his thoughts as he heard the front door open and in walk Annie. Armin was hit by her beauty once again, like the first time he had seen her. Her pale blonde hair was tied back except for the right side which hung down close to her face. She wore her usual gray hoodie even though she owned plenty of warmer coats. She was so enthralled in the music she had going through her headphones she didn't even notice Armin sitting right in front of her all she knew was that it was a long cold day and she needed a nice hot cup of coffee.

After dumping her book bag on the floor by the door she made her way into the kitchen to fix herself a hot drink. Armin as quiet as possible got up and made his way to the kitchen where Annie was facing towards the stove. Armin slowly wrapped his arms around Annie's stomach pulling her close.

For a moment Annie pulled back surprised by the arms wrapped around her until she felt the warmth. For whatever reason Armin was always warm, and yet she always felt cold until that night when they first shared a hug and a kiss, with Armin she felt so cozy and snug. Slowly she eased back into Armin's warm embrace. Armin hesitated for a moment as Annie eased back into his embrace. Slowly he set his head upon hers almost enveloping her.

For a moment they stood there basking in each others warmth, completely forgetting the hardships of the day and just enjoying this one moment. Finally, the two lovers were pulled from there paradise by the whistling of the water Ketel. As Annie pulled out of Armin's embrace to pour fix her coffee Armin went to lean against the sink which faced towards the stove.

Once finished making her coffee, Annie pulled off her headphones and set them down on the counter. Taking a long swig of her coffee she moved towards Armin and slipped back into her welcoming embrace. Hesitantly she rested her head on his chest and just held there. A moment later she felt him shift under her, as she looked up into his deep hazel eyes than to his smile.

That smile… that was the smile that always brightened her day. Leaning down to her Armin planted a kiss on her forehead, then on her lips. Their kiss was no more than a bush of lips but it spoke thousands in only a few moments.

Slowly pulling away Annie could see Armin was slightly flustered, his cheeks had a slight tinge of red to them. It was at this moment Annie let out a small coy smile, pulling back to retrieve her coffee. As she leaned on the edge of the stove opposite Armin.

"So how was your day" Armin asked smiling at her as she downed more of her coffee.

Thinking about it for a moment Annie recalled the events of her day. She remembered particularly the events have transpired during her small group practice, how Hitch and she had gotten into another argument until Krista had to get involved. "Uh… fine, I guess." she said before taking another drink of her mug "nothing out of the ordinary anyway."

"Hitch still getting to you?" Armin said reading Annie like a book.

"Ya" Annie sighed annoyed at how well Armin could read people, "but nothing I can't deal with," she said knowing full well she could beat hitch if she really wanted to.

"Just don't do anything you'll regret…," Armin said knowing full well that once Annie set her mind to something she would go through with it regardless of the consequences.

"I'll be fine," Annie said trying to reassure Armin "how was your day off"

It was now Armin's turn to sigh, do to his high IQ he didn't really need to go to his calculus anymore "honestly…. Really boring." Armin had spent the whole day at home laying on the couch reading or watching tv.

"Aw, that's too bad," Annie said envious of Armin's situation, she would have loved to stay in the apartment and just sleep forever but finals week was the one week that she actually struggled with. "Well you were here and not out there in the cold"

Armin seeing an opportunity said "well if your that cold we could get a blanket" Armin waited then for Annie to get upset.

To his surprise thou, Annie said "alright" as she Armin by the hand and went back to the couch and sat him down and proceeded to lean up against him with a blanket covering them, both of them blushing like fools as they laid there snuggled together. Slowly they eased into each other and got more comfortable. Until the front door opened and in walked in even and Mikasa.

Both even and Mikasa were dumbfounded by the sight of Armin and Annie nestled up on the couch the smell of thick coffee in the air. As the two couples stared at each other all flustered it was even who spoke up "if you need a moment… we could leave" he said as he glanced at Mikasa.

 **Both Annie and Armin were taken back for a moment before they realized what even was insinuating "no it's not like that" Armin said as Eren keeled over on the floor laughing.**

 **Alright, peoples, that's what I've got so let me know what you think thank you and ill try to get back to posting regularly.**


	15. new start chapter 2

**New start chapter 2**

"Mmmm, finally Friday" Krista yawned stretching her arms above her head. It was currently Friday and the end of the last full week, next Monday the would be moving into finals schedule. Before any of that thought, the shiganshina small chamber orchestra still had a concert on Sunday. Currently, three of the four girls were waiting for their last member to arrive.

The members present were all off finding ways to occupy themselves. Annie the violinist was in the corner of the room next to the window reading a book Armin had given to her about some crazed sea captain hunting a giant albino whale. Krista the oboist was sitting at the table in the center just aloft from the window writing something in the little notebook she carried with her. Sitting across from Krista was Sasha who was gnawing at a piece of french bread she had brought in as a snack.

Annie was suddenly pulled out of the world of her book when she heard a loud coughing fit. She looked over surprised to see Sasha hunched over the table coughing. Rushing to her as fast as possible Annie began patting Sasha on the back. Sasha strained for a moment before she promptly swallowed the bread she still had in her mouth, slowly recovering from her fit.

"Are you alright Sasha?" Krista asked.

"I'm fine." chirped Sasha as she finally recovered.

"Dang it, Sasha!" Annie yelled, "what did we tell you about eating too fast!?"

"Don't … get …. Caught?" Sasha quipped.

"Funny" Annie said obviously not amused as she returned to her seat.

"Speaking of funny…" Sasha said a sly smile creeping onto her face "I heard you and Armin

were getting busy the other day, care to comment."

"Who told you that," Annie said trying not to show that her blush.

"I believe I'm the one asking the questions around her young missy," said Sasha pulling her ponytail around to her face to make the form of a mustache.

"Real funny," Annie said trying not to let the jokester get to her.

"Speaking of which hows life with Armin?" Kista said looking up from her notebook.

"Oh, not you too!"

"Uhh fine, I guess," Annie said not exactly sure how to answer those kinds of questions.

"That's good," Krisa said a small smile forming on her small face as she returned to her notebook "will he be at the concert on Sunday?"

"I think so, he's been off from school due to the finals," Annie said.

"wow," Sasha said looking up from her bread "I wish I was that smart."

All of a sudden the door was thrown open and in walked in Hitch. As she sat on the couch facing towards the table. After a moment of awkward silence, Annie said: "your late" in a cold tone frustrated by Hitch and her bullsh!t.

"Whatever" Hitch said barely even looking up.

"come on Hitch you gotta be here too," Sasha said obviously annoyed by Hitch as well.

"No, I don't" Hitch scoffed "remember who's in charge you greasy potato."

A second later Annie heard a mighty screech, stunned she looked over to see Sasha wailing

"how could you say that about the greatest food in the world?!" Sasha wailed hurt to the very core of her being.

"Sasha calm down," Krista said trying to consol Sasha as she cradled a potato that she produced from her pocket.

Annoyed by all the noise Annie got up dropping her book on the table with a loud thud "Sasha pull yourself together" Annie said and instantly the room went quiet. "Hitch you better start showing up on time or we're going to have some problems" And for a moment Hitch was stunned.

"What, you gonna make me," Hitch said regaining her composure.

Thoroughly p!ssed off now, Annie got up closer to Hitch trying to intimidate her to back down, it had the adverse effect.

"Ya you wanna start something," Hitch said getting mere inches from Annie. The two stared each other down waiting for the other to back down, but neither did.

Out of nowhere, the two girls were both pushed back. Between the two hostile girls stood Krista holding them both back struggling to keep them back. As Annie and Hitch backed up Krista glanced at both of them hurt in her eyes "please don't fight" Krista said her large blue eyes looked as if she were about to cry.

"Sorry," Annie said looking down at her feet, embraced by her behavior.

"I'm sorry, whatever" Hitch muttered.

"Good," Krista said a smile returning to her face. "Now should we start practice?"

"Alright," they all said in unison each getting into their positions.

They then spent the next half hour touching up on small sections across there several songs, taking special care to work on the balance. Do to the bickering of their two leas it made it very difficult for them to not try and show up each other.

Finally content the girls decided to end rehearsal. Taking a few moments to tune her violin Annie sat down and began to tinker with the strings.

"you're not going home, Annie?" Sasha said as she put on her snow jacket.

"Ya, I'm just gonna hang around here for a little bit," Annie said focusing on the sound coming from her precious violin.

"Come on give it a break Leonhart," Hitch said as she packed away her viola.

"Come on Hitch," Krista said trying to keep the two from fighting again.

"What are you her lawyer," Hitch said instantly shutting Krista down. "Come on Leonhart, or are you scared"

Thoroughly pushed over the edge now Annie stood up plopping her violin down on the chair

"what's your problem Hitch," Annie said frustrated

"You and this whole high horse bull sh!t" Hitch said determined not to back down.

"Hitch, Annie stoop this right now" Krista cried looking to Sasha for back up, but neither of them could do a thing.

"My bull sh!t!?" Annie said "what about your bull sh!t, maybe I wouldn't have a problem if you could actually be a leader for once instead of a tyrant. All day we have to put up with you and your shit"

"What you think you can do any better" Hitch said.

"Ya I bet I could," Annie said not backing down.

"Alright let's put that to the test," Hitch said becoming more confident "next Friday, just me and you we'll see who is the better player."

"you're on," Annie said not even thinking what that even meant.

"Alright you're on half-pint," Hitch said gathering her things and making for the door "and don't expect me to go easy on you either."

"I'd be disappointed if you did" Annie shot back and with that Hitch departed.

"Annie do you know what you just got yourself into?" Sasha said a little scared of what just transpired in front of her.

"I know what I'm doing," Annie said trying to keep her calm demeanor going. Inside she was starting to panic. What the hell did I just get into!? Taking a moment to calm down Annie gathered her thing and departed without so much as a backward glance.

Quickly making her way off campus and to the house. The second the door closed behind her she slumped to the floor frustrated, no more than that she was pissed she need to release some stress. Gather her gym bag and her boxing gloves she set off to the campus gym.

As Annie entered the gym she was greeted by the pungent smell of sweat. The gym was open to all on campus but only a select few go. It was a small complex wasn't too well maintained but it had the one think Annie cared about, a full kickboxing set up.

After changing into her gym clothes which mostly consisted of pair shorts, one of her older hoodies and her boxing gloves, she set off to the boxing area. She wasn't exactly uncomfortable, many as far as a normal day where I didn't work, for kickboxing though it did its job well. even when there were people here no one really paid much attention to her thank goodness.

She steadily went to work on the bad, mostly focusing on her hits as opposed to her cover. She didn't really care how she would hold up in a real fight she was content in imagining Hitch as the bag. From a young age, her father had groomed her to be a fighter, it was her mother who had the biggest impact on her.

Stopping for a moment Annie remembered her mother, she was the one who encouraged her to pursue violin, she taught Annie everything she knew about music much to her father's disapproval. Annie always remembered her father referring to her as a free spirit.

"Annie?"

Quickly turning around Annie saw Mikasa dressed in her own gym attire which included a pair of

Light gray sweets, a black undershirt, and a black hoodie. unsurprisingly she still had her red scarf albeit wrapped around her face.

"Oh, hey Mikasa" Annie said, "did you need something?"

"Kinda," Mikasa said looking a little uncertain which in itself was unusual "well you see Eren has to study for his finals, so I'm kinda without a sparring partner. So I was wondering if you'd like to spar with me."

"All right I need a good fight," Annie said, "lead the way."

 **alright, that's it for this week, I'm going to try to post every Thursday if I can.**

 **thanks, fox**


	16. new start chapter 3

**New start chapter 3**

From a distance it didn't look fair, the two young women were circling each other fists raised guarding themselves. Mikasa was almost a head taller than her opponent. The shorter Annie was currently on the offensive quickly taking jabs at Mikasa's defensive trying to break through to get a clear shot in. as Annie went in for an attack Mikasa pulled back sending Annie forward into what should be an easy punch. But it didn't come.

Regaining her balance Annie looked up to see Mikasa a worried look on her face. "Are you ok Annie?" Mikasa said.

"Fine" Annie said taking a moment to recompose herself into a fighting stance

"You don't seem fine," Mikasa said returning to her fighting stance as well.

"What makes you say that?" Annie said moving to the defensive, Her arm up elbows in.

"Trust me, Annie, I've seen you fight before your not that sloppy," Mikasa said taking quick jabs at Annie trying to break through Annies defenses.

"I'm fine, worry about yourself," Annie said taking a quick few jabs at Mikasa then immediately returning to her iron defense.

"Your and Armin aren't having problems so what could it be?" Mikasa said more to herself before getting pulled back into the fight when Annie starting began to return to the offense

"Why do you care!?" Annie said instantly pulling back as Mikasa once again set about breaking Annie's defense.

"I'm just trying to help!" Mikasa said taking a couple of hard hits at Annie's defense which made contact with the right side of Annie's abdomen sending the smaller girl stumbling back into the edge of the ring.

"Damn it" Annie hissed under her breath trying not to focus on the pain radiating from her gut. 'That's it! she wants to fight dirty, I can fight dirty too'. Picking herself up Annie advanced towards Mikasa, going in with a flurry of quick jabs at Mikasa trying to bait her into going to fall back into her defense. With one last strike, Annie got Mikasa to fall back, taking the opportunity she went for the kill.

Suddenly Mikasa felt a sharp pain in her left thigh. Suddenly falling down Mikasa saw that Annie had landed a powerful kick while Mikasa was focused her punches. Falling to one knee Mikasa was p!ssed. Quickly standing up Mikasa went full force on Annie breaking her defense in a matter of minutes leaving Annie vulnerable, for a moment Mikasa contemplated striking Annie in the chest but decided against it. Swiftly Mikasa pushed Annie down.

"What the hell is your problem!?" Mikasa shouted standing above Annie who was sprawled on the floor of the boxing ring; defeated. Taking off her gloves Mikasa stormed out of the ring.

Slowly regaining her breath Annie sat on the floor of the boxing ring ' _what the hell just happened'_ she thought to herself slowly getting up and massaging her ribs ' _you got your ass kicked that's what!'_ slowly getting up Annie made her way back to the locker room.

Slowly walking back to the house she felt her side to find it still tender ' _you should probably apologize to Mikasa'_

' _For what she's the one who wanted to fight'_

' _That's true, but your the one who started it'_ immediately Annie realized that she was thinking of what Armin would say. ' _Come on you know that I hate to see you and Mikasa fight.'_

' _But she did start it!'_ annie cried out to imaginary Armin.

' _Annie? Who are you kidding you the one who through started fighting dirty'_ imaginary Armin said.

Deep down she knew imaginary Armin was right and with a heavy sigh pulled out her phone and went to her messages and pulled Armins contact and quickly typed ' _ **hey, can you meet me**_

 _ **at Dauper?'**_

After a couple of seconds of walking, Annie felt her phone vibrate. Opening her messages she saw a new message form Armin that read ' _ **sure, I'll meet you there in a couple of minutes.'**_

Taking the short walk Annie got to Dauper in a two or three minutes, if Armin left right away he would still take a couple more minutes for him to get there. Taking a seat at the booth furthest from the door next to the window Annie took a moment to look around, there were a couple of patrons to Dauper most of them keeping to themselves. There were a couple of older men chatting at the bar with Mr. Blouse, Sasha's father, and the owner. there was a couple sitting in

the booth closest to the door who was being attended to by Sasha.

Sasha talked with the couple for some time before she made her way over to Annie. "Hey Annie," Sasha said as she put her notepad back in the pocket of her apron "what brings Y'all here, I done thought y'all was goin' home."

Stunned for a moment Annie remembered Sashas hidden accent "I was just out and about and thought I'd wait for Armin" Annie said not wanting to say too much.

"Really cause ya look like hell," Sasha said peering at Annie "Y'all know ya got some hits on ya face, ay done saw ya limping in too" reaching up to feel her face Annie pulled back as she felt a sudden jab of pain in her left cheek. "Don't worry it ain't that bad," Sasha said reassuring Annie as she checked herself in the reflection of a spoon.

After a couple moments of silence, Sasha said all be it hesitantly "so what happened?, if Y'all don't mind me asking of course!"

"It's fine; me and Mikasa were sparing and it got a little heated, that's all" before Sasha could respond the bell above the door chimed and in entered a couple.

"We'll talk later," Sasha said as she hurried off to greet the couple. A short time later Armin walked in kicking the snow from his boots, promptly he sat down across from Annie, an upset look came across his face.

"What happened," Armin said examining Annie's face.

"I was sparing with Mikasa," Annie said giving Armin a weak smile to reassure him she was fine.

"Are you ok? do you need to go to the hospital that really looks bad." Armin said sounding more and more worried.

"No!" Annie giggled "I'll survive."

"Are you sure?" Armin said still concerned.

"Ya, it just been a really long day," Annie said stretching

"Well look at the bright side," Armin said leaning on the table.

"ya, and what's that?" Annie asked as she sat up

"Well tomorrow's the weekend, and the day after tomorrow is your final concert of the year," Armin said sure that would cheer her up.

"Ya, that would be great if I didn't have to still go to practice," Annie said

"Hitch again?" Armin asked knowing exactly why Annie didn't like going to practice.

"Ya, it's worse now," Annie said letting her head drop.

"How so?" Armin asked a little confused

"Hitch challenged me to a duel and I don't know if I can beat her," Annie said feeling embraced saying it out loud. "She's just frustrating me so much, she won't practice, doesn't show up sometimes, disrespects everyone, and…" Annie was suddenly cut off as Armin got up and moved to the other side of the booth to sit with her.

Pulling Annie into a hug Armin said: "don't worry about Hitch, I know you'll beat her, do you know why."

"If you say because of the power of love I swear I'll hit you.." Annie said

"No, but that could help." Armin said, sure he would get it for that later "you'll beat her because you're the smartest, most beautiful girl I've ever met, plus your three times the musician she is. Now let's go home." and with the pair set off into the snow-covered town.

 **Alright people there we are, I'm sorry it's a little late. Last week was finals week and I needed a bit of a mental rest. So next week will be a little different then what we're used to I'm gonna right somewhat of a holidays special thing with all the characters so look forward to that.**

 **Fox**


	17. new start chapter 4

**New start chapter 4**

"Who needs this much eggs!?" Eren called out

"Annie said she wanted to make eggnog for the party" Armin called back. He and Eren were at the super gathering last minute supplies for their holiday party. Last minute Annie decided that she wanted to do homemade eggnog; a tradition she says her mother carried, so she tasked Eren and Armin out to gather what was needed.

The holiday party was usually held the weekend just after the quarter ended just before finals. It

as Saturday morning the party would be in a couple of hours at seven.

"Have you and Mikasa decided if your going to the concert?" Armin asked Eren as he grabbed the milk.

"What concert?" Eren asked from behind the cart, sounding genuinely dumbfounded.

"Annie's concert tomorrow, remember?" Armin inquired knowing full well Eren probably didn't forget on purpose. ' _He's never remembered anything in his life that didn't involve Mikasa, home or, the anime he just finished. In fact, he spent a lot of time watching anime, should I be worried about that? Na he's been like that his whole life.'_

"Of course, I remember," Eren said "what do you take me for"

"You really want me to answer that?" Armin asked taking a chance to tease his closest friend.

"Ah what would you know anyway!?" Eren said playfully pushing Armin the shopping cart.

After a moment of silence, Eren said "I don't know yet... But let's not worry about that right now let's just get these eggs and go back home." giving a big smile even once again nudged Armin with the cart.

After about an hour they were done and on their way home, bags in tow. Finally making it home they set all the bags down, Eren collapsed on the couch rubbing his hands.

"How'd it go?" Annie said from the kitchen.

"Fine, we got the eggs, the milk and the cream," Armin said unbagging it "did we forget anything."

"No, this is perfect," Annie said as she gathered all the ingredients together and began working.

Armin was in the kitchen helping Annie with the rest of the food of the celebration. Eren in the meantime was busy moving the couches and chairs to make a much bigger gathering space.

They worked in quiet delight until there was a banging on the door. Eren went to open the door and in walked Mikasa a big box in her arms.

"Is this everything?" Eren asked helping Mikasa pull the box in through the doorway even though she could clearly do it herself.

"No there are two more boxes, in the self-storage," Mikasa said setting the box down on the living room floor. "Did you to get all the groceries?"

"Ya, we got it all," Eren said a smug grin on his face.

"Eren go help Mikasa with the last of the boxes, we'll finish up here," Annie said making sure not to sound to commanding, least she and Mikasa get into another fight, they were both still sour from their last bout.

"Right, let me grab my jacket" and with that Eren and Mikasa set off to the self-storage across the street from the apartments.

As Eren and Mikasa maid there way out of the apartment Mikasa let out a heavy sigh.

"Whats wrong," Eren asked knowing full well what it was but it wouldn't help her if he told her what her problem was.

"Nothing," Mikasa said pulling her old red scarf over her face "I'm just cold."

"Oh really," even said stopping to look at childhood friend. Eren took her ungloved hand in his

"ya as warm as mittens."

"Stop that," Mikasa said in a small voice "we've got work to do."

"We could do it later," Eren said placing her hand on his on his shoulders and pulling her to him.

"Besides it's not like its going anywhere." Eren pulled down Mikasa's scarf exposing her face and planted a kiss on her lips. "What's the problem little warrior?"

"Don't call me that," Mikasa said looking away.

"Why," Eren said, "your my little warrior, Come on tell me what's wrong your making a scene."

With another heavy sigh, mikasa said "it's just dealing with Annie is getting so frustrating." hearing herself say that Mikasa felt ashamed ' _your not supposed to give into this kind of bull, and yet you went one step further and got in a fight'_

"Chin up little warrior," Eren said lifter her face to look at his "I know you two can get along." placing another kiss on her lips Eren set off again knowing they were already taking to much time.

"Alright the hams going in the oven," Armin told Annie as they continued to work in the kitchen

"were almost done"

"Not yet," Annie said as she added cream to the eggnog mixture "we still need to put up the decorations"

"Well that's easy," Armin said suddenly there was a knock on the door "speak of the devil"

Opening the door for Mikasa and Eren the last of the boxes were finally here. As they cracked them open inside there was an artificial Christmas tree since the apartment floor definitely couldn't hold up a real tree. There were roles of garland, balls of white lights, tinsel, and of course, there was a set of cloth raped dishes and silverware that Mr. Yeager and Mrs. Yeager had given to Eren and Mikasa when they finally left home, unfortunately they were too nice to use for just anything.

"See I told the cloth would work," Armin said poking Eren as he inspected the precious dinnerware.

"Alright, Mikasa wash the dishes, Armin and Annie help me put up all the decorations," Eren said as he started working.

For an hour and a half, they worked to make the apartment look not only presentable but festive as well. Armin and Eren spent almost half an hour putting up the tree in the corner of the apartment, next to the room that leads to Armin and Annie's room. While that was being done Annie was busy hanging the lights on the walls, most of them low for now until she absolutely had to get a chair. Above the small heater that looked like a fireplace they hung decorative stockings so that it was the first thing you saw when you entered. After she finished with dishes Mikasa helped put up lights at that point the tree was up and lit and in place.

The last thing was to set the table and Mikasa was adamant that she do it lest someone drop one of the plates.

"Go get yourselves ready for the party," Mikasa said as she carefully set the plates on the table. That was unfolded to fit everyone that was coming. Annie went into the room and Armin and Eren decided to move some of the couches around again to make the rooms a little more accessible. After that Eren sat down exhausted.

"I'm going to go get changed," Armin said and make his way to the small room he and Annie shared.

As he entered he was greeted by the sight of Annie halfway into the red dress she picked for the occasion her bra fully exposed. Shocked for a moment both Armin and Annies face's went and equal shade of red. "Get out!" Annie cried out

"Sorry, sorry!" Armin apologized as he quickly exited the room shutting the door behind him. True they shared a bed but it was nothing like that. Armin went and flopped down on the couch next to Eren his face still glowing red, that image engraved in his head.

It was almost time for the party and most of the work was done. The first to arrive was Marco with Jean in tow, "hello" Marco called out to everyone as Armin let them in "my god it looks amazing"

"Thank you, Marco," Mikasa said trying to be inviting

"Here we brought this" Marco said handing Eren a small platter with a lid.

"What is this Mikasa asked as they lifted the lid to find a well-sized cake with what looked like candy in the top.

"It's a fruitcake!" Marco said with a big smile on his face "its a custom where I come from" from behind Marco Armin could see Jean signaling something almost a gagging motion.

"Thank you Macro," Eren said placing the plate on the kitchen counter.

Eren took the two guest to the living room to occupy them as they waited for everyone else to arrive.

"Well I suppose that's nice of them," Armin said as he worked on the last of the food.

"Well at least its something nice," Annie said

"At least it means there is more to eat, are you sure there is enough for everyone?" Mikasa said

as she went to talk with Marco and jean.

"It'll be fine," Armin said sure there was more than enough

A few minutes later there was another knock on the door, Annie went to open it. In the doorway stood a large intimidating figure, instantly Armin recognized Reiner.

"Reiner!" Armin greeted

"Hey Half Pint, I haven't seen you in a long time," Reiner said him and Armin went into an embrace, they were both caught off guard as Annie began laugh hysterically.

"Half Pint?" Annie said between giggles.

"Ah you come here to," Reiner said as he pulled Annie into the embrace as well. "I'm so glad to made it."

"Not going to make it if you keep crushing us," Armin said as he felt his bones break. Letting them both go, Annie, led Reiner to the living room and Armin went back to the kitchen.

From the kitchen, armin could here Reiner greet the other guest. Armin hadn't seen Reiner since the end of first quarter. Going back to the food Armin decided that it was done. They were just waiting for the last of the guests.

Armin made his way to the living room to spend some time with the guests, he sat down on one of the coaches next to Annie. Across from them was Reiner, Eren and Jean were chatting loudly about who they thought would win in some important game. Mikasa and Marco were talking about how Marco and Jean had been doing since they left the school's campus jean had gone to stay with Marco in another apartment complex somewhere in the city.

"See I told you there wouldn't be any problems," Armin said looking over at Annie

"Alright don't get cheeky," Annie said patting Armin on the arm "the nights not over."

Another few minutes passed until there was another knock on the door Mikasa was the one to get it this time. In walked Sasha and a smaller bald man who Armin didn't know personally, he'd

seen him around the campus before with Sasha.

"Hello everyone," Sasha said as Mikasa let the two in "this is Connie"

"Hey everyone," Connie said

Everyone spent a couple of minutes asking Connie all kinds of questions.

"Where are you from," Eren asked

"Ragako a little town do south," Connie said

"what are you studying," Armin asked

"Law, hopefully," Connie said

"Same here," Jean said

Sasha and Connie answered questions for almost five minutes before the there was another lite tap on the door. Annie got up to get it and in walked Krista and Ymir.

"Hello everyone," Krista said holding up a wreath, "here this is for you"

"Thank you, Krista," Annie said the wreath had the thick smell of pine cones.

"Well let's eat!" Sasha said in her usual spunky attitude. Everyone made their way to the dining room and took their places while Armin and Mikasa went to get the food. There was ham, potatoes, greens, and of course, the fruitcake Macro and Jean had brought.

As everyone got the food and eggnog Eren stood up with his cup"Alright everyone this is it, the end of the year, here's to another fantastic year." everyone lifted their cups and toasted to another wonderful year.

 **Alright everyone there you go I'm going to take a break until this coming week. We'll be back in January so look forward to that.**

 **fox**


	18. new start chapter 5

**New start chapter 5**

Annie felt her stomach twisting as she stared out on the crowd. From her spot on the stage behind the curtain, she could see almost the entire audience. "Worried Armin won't show up?" Krista said as she too peaked out of the current.

"I know Armin will be here," Annie said confidently. "I'm worried that Eren and Mikasa won't."

"I'm sure they'll be here." Krista said reassuring "I just know it, I'm kinda surprised Hitch is letting you do this."

"I've got enough dirt on her to get at least this much," Annie said as the lights in the concert hall dimed and they made there way back to the changing rooms.

"We're after intermission right?" Krista said as she struggled to keep up with Annie.

"It's intermission, the small jazz combo, then us," Annie said without even breaking her stride.

As the two girls entered the changing room they were greeted by Hitch sitting in front of the mirror tediously brushing her hair, and Sasha sitting on a stool tuning her precious tuba.

In the main hall, Armin sat up in one of the audience booths to the right of the stage. He enjoyed being here the music of the orchestras and bands were always very well done, more than that he really enjoyed hearing Annie play, she really did at home. The lights in the hall began to dim and it suddenly dawned on Armin that Eren and Mikasa still weren't here.

'They're probably just running a little late, it's nothing to worry about.'

As the concert started Armin tried to push the thoughts to the back of his mind but as the concert continued he realized more and more that he was glancing down at his watch more than at the stage 'where are they' he thought as the second band finished their set and exited the

stage.

"And now the wind ensemble will take us to intermission," said the old conductor from his place on stage.

'Intermission!? Already?' Armin started to panic he knew Annie had mentioned that she wanted Eren and Mikasa to be here for a special reason. 'Maybe I'll give them a call at intermission' before he knew it the wind ensemble finished their set and the lights of the hall came back on for people to mill about for intermission.

Quickly making his way down the stairs Armin was out the door of the hall quickly pulling out his phone. It felt like an eternity for Armin to find Eren's phone number in his contacts. Armin's heart jumped into his throat as the phone went to voicemail. 'What should I do, should I go back to the apartment, shoul…

Suddenly Armin's train of thought was cut off by a hand taping him on the shoulder. Armin turned to see an elderly woman who was an employee of the concert hall.

"I'm sorry," the old woman said in a soft tone "but intermission is almost over please return to your seat."

'Damn it what should I do' Armin thought 'there's nothing to do, just go back to your seat and enjoy the rest of the concert' with a sigh Armin nodded his head and made his way back to his seat. 'Maybe I should tell Annie not t…'

"There you are, we've been looking everywhere for you!"

Startled Armin turned around to see Mikasa and Eren. Mikasa wore a soft red dress, which was just a little bit brighter than her irreplaceable red scarf, while Eren wore black slacks a white shirt and a similar red tie.

"Where were you two," Armin said dumbfounded.

"Ya that's my fault," Eren said looking a little embarrassed

"He couldn't tie the tie at all…." Mikasa said giving Eren a sly smile.

"It's not that funny," Eren said, "besides we made it didn't we?"

"Well…" Armin started to say until he noticed to lights we almost out "we should probably get to our seats before they kick us out"

The three friends made their way back to the booth, which was shockingly still empty, just in time for the small jazz combo.

Backstage Annie, Hitch, Krista, and Sasha we all nervously waiting for their turn. Sasha was eagerly hoping from one foot to the next in anticipation, Krista was taking deep breaths. Annie and Hitch, on the other hand, were calm. Annie didn't suffer from performance anxiety, and from what she knew neither did Hitch.

As far as Annie knew Hitch had come from the stohess district to shiganshina for what she had no clue. Apparently, Hitch has been training to be a violinist since she was a little girl, bragging that she's learned from some of the best teachers in the world, but for some reason, Annie didn't believe that. If she really is as good as she says then why is she going to school in shiganshina and not in some private school in mitras or orvud.

Annie was suddenly pulled from her thoughts as she heard the applause of the audience indicating the end of the small jazz combos set. From the other side of the stage, Annie could see the music director Keith Shadis, the notoriously strict and scary teacher, walk on to the stage to the microphone. "It is now my pleasure to introduce one of our best groups for you, the shiganshina small chamber orchestra."

As Annie and the others went to set up in a small ark Hitch walked over to Mr. Shadis to shake his hand as was custom, for the leader of the ensemble to thank the announcer.

Hitch moved to the microphone as Mr. Shadis exited the stage "thank you all for coming to see us at our last concert performance of the year, it really means a lot to us" Hitch paused as the audience applauded "we all thought we would tell you who and what helped us get here, I wanted to thank my handsome boyfriend Marlo Freudenberg for always supporting me."

Next was Krista "I wanted to thank Ymir my housemate and protector for always being there for me, I wouldn't be who I am if it wasn't for you." a large applause followed Krista as she left the microphone and returned to her spot.

Next was Sasha "I'd like to thank my father for always supporting me and keeping me grounded even when I wanna fly." the way audible aww as Sasha went back to her spot

Finally, it was Annie's turn " I wanted to thank my family especially my mom for encouraging me to keep playing the violin, my boyfriend Armin Arlert for helping me find myself, and lastly Mikasa Ackerman I've never had a sister but she is sure damn close." And with that Annie returned to her spot to begin their set.

With the concert over the girls, all began to disperse until Sasha piped up "hey let's go celebrate! Whos with me!?"

"Pass" Hitch said leaving the changing room

"Alright, sour-puss," Sasha said under her breath as Hitch left. "What about you two!? Are you with me!?"

Annie took a look at the clock it was half past nine, "I don't know Sasha, I'm really tired." Annie said trying to let Sasha down easy.

"Come on it'll be fun we could invite the others too," Sasha said

"Sure I'm in," Krista said "come on Annie it'll be fun"

"Fine" Annie said letting out a heavy sigh "let me call Armin see if he and the others aren't too tired"

Quickly pulling out her phone she gave Armin a call

"Hey, Sasha said if we wanna go celebrate?" Annie said

"Sure let me ask Eren and Mikasa, hold on," Armin said as the sound went muffled a few moments Armin was back, "they said sure, so we'll me you out front."

"Ya ok, see you there," Annie said

"Ok love you" Armin stammered

"Y..ya love you too," Annie said blushing as she hung up.

"Uuu sounds spicy," Sasha said a big grin on her face

"Don't make me change my mind?" Annie said not amused.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry I didn't mean it," Sasha said nervously chuckling.

The three girls quickly got changed out of their concert attire and made there way out to the front of the building. It was a clear brisk night, just in front of the building they saw Armin, Eren, Mikasa, and the tall figure of Ymir.

"So where do you guys wanna go!?" Sasha said standing up on top of one of the nearby benches.

"I know a great waffle place not too far from here." Eren threw out

"Any objections, then let's go," Sasha said jumping from her perch "Eren lead the way"

And so the small group set off Eren and Mikasa in front Krista, Ymir, and Sasha behind them and Armin and Annie in the back. "You sounded great," Armin said smiling at Annie.

"You think so?" Annie said a small smile spreading across her face " I don't think it was as fast as it should have been."

"It was great," Armin said looking down as they walked. Slowly Armin stretched his hand out gently brushing his agents Annies. Slowly he wrapped his hand around hers, ever so slowly she tightened her grip on his as well.

"Hey, lovebirds keep up," Ymir said glancing back to see Armin and Annie hand in hand at a leisurely walk almost fifteen feet behind. Still, hand in hand Armin and Annie caught up with the rest of the group.

After walking for a few more minutes Sasha finally broke the silence "how much further Eren"

"It's just a little further" Eren called back.

"But I'm hungry now!" Sasha cried out

"Oh that's right I ran into Connie this morning and he asked me to give you this" Krista said as she pulled a small bag out of her bag and handed it to Sasha.

"What is it?" Sasha asked dumbfounded

"Not quite sure," Krista said I think it's some kind of bread I thin…"

Krista was suddenly cut off by a high pitched squeal that came from Sasha "look it's a chocolate

filled monkey bread" she said as she bit into the soft bread.

"A chocolate filled what now," Annie said confused

Between mouthfuls of bread, Sasha managed to say "it's a sweet bread filled with chocolate."

"Oh, ok that explains it," Annie said still confused.

After another few minutes of walking, they finally made it to the small diner Eren had told them about.

The small building could hold maybe twenty people and tables. Once the entire group was in the building a small woman with light brown hair, close to blonde, greeted them

"Eren, Mikasa!" the woman exclaimed as she saw them

"Hey, Petra," Eren said, "how are you?"

"Just great," Petra said with a smile

"Is uncle Kenny here?" Mikasa asked

"You know he never leaves, he's in the kitchen"

"Wheres Kuchel?" Eren asked

"Oh right here," Petra said turning around to reveal a small baby in a hamper on her back.

"I've got a give it to you Petra, you sure are one hell of a mom," Eren said

"Trust me I had more than enough training taking care of you and Oluo," Petra remarked

"That's fair," Eren said looking a little embarrassed

"Now come in, sit down," Petra said leading the group to one of the bigger tables.

Suddenly out of the kitchen came a tall skinny man with dark hair "Mikasa!"

"Kenny," Mikasa said sternly

"Ah come on is that any way to talk to your dear old uncle," Kenny said a smug grin crawling across his old face.

With a heavy sigh, Mikasa got up and hugged Kenny "where's cousin"

"He's in the kitchen, where he should be," Kenny said "I'll send him out" Kenny then went back to the kitchen and after a moment a short man with short black hair walked out.

"Yeager," the short man said

"Levi," Eren said back

"You're still going around with this idiot," Levi said to Mikasa

"Hey play nice," Petra said poking Levi in the side "come on back to the kitchen" after another tense moment Levi returned to the kitchen.

"Well he's certainly sunny," Krista said breaking the silence

"Ya, you'll have to excuse Levi," Petra said, "he's a little rough around the edges but he's got a good heart."

"What's his problem with you Eren?" Armin asked

"He's my cousin," Mikasa said

"Ya we could tell," Ymir said

"Enough of that then," Petra said "what can I get for you all"

Each of the members ordered and off Petra went to the kitchen window.

So if Kenny is your uncle and Levi's your cousin then who is Petra and Kuchel." Armin asked Mikasa

"Well the first Kuchel was my aunt, Kenny's sister, and Levis mother but now she's Levi and Petra's daughter."

"She's barely eight months old," Petra said as she returned with their plates

The friends sat around eating and talking for over an hour until Krista and Ymir had to go back to the dorms of the school, shortly after Sasha excused herself to go back home as well leaving Eren, Mikasa, Armin, and Annie.

"Hey, Mikasa your parents died when you were little right?" Annie asked

"Ya they did, they died in a car crash when I was little" Mikasa said looking into her cup

"Then you went to live with Eren, right?" Annie asked

"Ya but I still remained an Ackerman" Mikasa said

"So why didn't you go live with Kenny, why did you go live with Eren?" Annie finally asked

"Honey I own a waffle house," Kenny said from behind Annie "what makes you think I could support a child, besides the good dr. yeager has always been a regular. I remember when my pops owned the place and I worked here with Kuchel, Grisha and his whole resistance movement used to come in here."

"I know he brought me here when I was little" Eren said "before Mikasa came to live with us"

"Alright kiddos, it's time to go," Kenny said "I've gotta close up for the night"

"Alright, see you around uncle," Mikasa said as the four left.

Finally making it home Armin and Eren went to the dining room to finish studying for finals the next day leaving Annie and Mikasa in the living room.

"Hey, Annie where did you learn to play the violin?" Mikasa asked

"My mother taught me to play the violin and my father taught me to fight," Annie said remembering the discussions her parents would have as to what Annie would do.

"Annie… I'm sorry if I pushed you too much to talk" Mikasa said after a moment of silence

"I'm sorry too, for not talking to you," Annie said "you really are the closest thing I have to a sister"

"Thank you, Annie," Mikasa said as she got up "I'm going off to sleep" and with that, she disappeared into her room. Soon after Eren went to sleep as well.

Armin was sitting on the couch reading and Annie was in the kitchen fixing tea for herself and Armin. As Annie set the tea on the table she noticed Armin so enthralled in his book that he didn't even notice her enter. Hesitantly she sat down on the couch and leaned against Armin. For a moment Armin froze but after a few seconds, he relaxed. After sitting like this for a few moments Armin got bold and reached his arm over Annie so she was now resting on his chest as opposed to his shoulder. Hesitantly Annie reached for Armin hand and intertwined her fingers with his, at this point, Armin put his book down and was now shifting himself a bit to the side so Annie was more resting on him.

"Hey, Annie?" Armin said breaking the soft silence

"Ya," she said sitting up a bit to look at Armin's face

"C..Can you play something for me?" Armin said hesitantly, he knew she was very reserved with her playing

"Didn't I just play something?" Annie said trying to avoid the conversation she wiggled into a position with her back to Armin.

"Come on I never get to hear just you play," Armin said

"For good reason," Annie said lifting her chin as to not even look at Armin

"Come on, please, just for me," Armin said as he moved so Annie was now sitting on the couch and Armin was looking right at her.

Annie looked away flustered by the way Armin phrase it "fine" Annie finally said blushing "but only because it's you"

Standing up Annie got her violin from its case she suddenly remembered the day her father gave it to her, the day she left home for shiganshina. He had always wanted her to do something practical 'you can't make a living off music' he always told her. This time, however, she remembered him saying 'if this is really what you want to do then you do it, you hear me if you're going to do this, you're going to do it right' that day was the first and only time to date that her father had hugged her. Tears began to well in Annie's eyes as her thoughts returned to that day then suddenly she remembered something, a feeling, the feeling of Armin's arms around her, His warmth enveloping her in its warmth.

Suddenly Annie was drawn from her thoughts as she felt the warmth envelope her, she felt Armins arms around her. She felt her sadness, her fear, her doubt, it all just fell away and all she could feel was Armin's arms around her, she couldn't even feel the tears that rolled down her cheeks.

"It's fine if you don't want to play for me, I'll understand" Armin whispered into her ear.

"You idiot" she whispered into his ear with a little chuckle "it's not you, in fact, I think you help… this" slowly Annie loosened her grip on her violin "Armin we need to go to Liberio"

"Liberio?" Armin asked not sure why they needed to go there until it dawned on him "your hometown?"

"Yes," Annie said wrapping her arms around Armin dropping her bow and violin "there's something I need to get"

"Alright," Armin said "we can go next weekend"

"No," Annie said "we need to go now"

"Now!" Armin said shocked "are you sure"

"Yes," Annie said looking up at Armin " I'm sure"

"Ok, go get some stuff ready I'll go tell Eren and Mikasa we'll be back, ok?"

"Ok," Annie said as she felt Armin let her go. Quickly Annie gathered some snacks, a thermos of coffee, a blanket, and the keys while Armin woke Eren and explained their situation.

"Are you sure it can't wait?" Eren asked Annie "liberio is a good five hours from here"

"We're sure," Armin said "we'll be back by tomorrow, ok"

"Alright," Eren said "drive safe"

As quick as they could the pair made their way out of the apartment complex and down to the parking garage and before they knew it they were on the road. "Go ahead and go to sleep I'll wake you when we get their" Armin said as he drove down the road.

"Not a chance, I'll stay awake with you," Annie said leaning over and kissing Armin on the cheek.

Back and forth they switched who was driving for three hours until both of them were too tired to drive safely. They finally parked in one of the few rest stops dotted along the highway, and so they rested there snuggled together until morning when they got back on the road.

Finally after diving for another two and a half hours of driving they spotted a sign that read now entering liberio.

"Any of this look familiar?" Armin asked as he looked at the address Annie had given him.

"Ya," Annie said looking out of the window "this place hasn't changed since I left."

Suddenly as they were driving down one of the backroads Annie finally said "quick turn here"

The road she was pointing to was little less than a gravel path but Armin could see at the end of it was a small house. As they neared the house Armin parked and turned off the car. Slowly the two got out of the car and walked to the house.

"So should we knock?" Armin asked a little put off by the small house.

"No, we need to go to the shack in the back," Annie said gestured towards the right side of the house. As they rounded the house Armin saw the shack Annie had mentioned, it looked as if it were about to fall over. Without breaking stride, Annie made her way to the shack and yanked the door open and entered Armin followed her shortly.

Surprisingly the shack was warm and dry, albeit dusty. Looking around Annie finally found what she was looking for, a large chest with a combination lock on the front of it "give me hand will you" Annie said. Steadily they pulled the trunk out of the corner and into the center of the shack.

"Do you know the combination?" Armin asked looking at the lock

"Of course," Annie said reaching for the lock "it's three-twenty-two"

"Why that?" Armin asked not sure how she knew it

"It's my birthday," Annie said looking at Armin a little concerned he didn't know that

"Oh that makes sense," Armin said "what's inside"

His question was answered as Annie opened the box to reveal an ebony violin with an ivory bow "this was my moms violin, she always told me 'one day this violin will be yours when you find the music of your soul, then and only then will this violin be yours' i now finally understand what that means"

"What did she mean by the music of your soul," Armin asked both confused and awestruck by the violin

"The music of your soul is basically your happy place," Annie said "that's you Armin"

"R..really" Armin said, "that's r.."

Suddenly the light from the doorway was eclipsed "so you've returned" a voice said in the doorway stood a short man a cane at his side.

"I've come back for what is mine," Annie said grabbing the violin and bow from the box and standing "and nothing more, there's nothing for me here anymore"

"Is that so?" the man said "in the entire time you've been gone you never bothered to come check on your dear old dad, but now that you need something you come barging in here if you want to leave with that violin your gonna have to take it"

"Fine" Annie said handing the violin to Armin.

Assuming a fighting position Annie charged at her father who quickly brought his cane up to deflect the attack. backed up leading Annie out into the open still deflecting her kicks. Armin had seen Annie fight Mikasa before but this was something else it was like a dance, an attack a counter, on and on it went until finally, Annie kicked high aiming for Mr. Leonhardt's head, to slow to move back Mr. Leonhart brought his cane up to defend himself but it didn't help, the force of Annie's kick shattered the cane into a million pieces. With one last sharp kick, Annie sent Mr. Leonhart sprawling to the ground.

"I owe nothing to you" Annie hissed "you were never a father you were a tyrant"

"Hey you can't leave!" screamed "I forbid you!"

"I don't care," Annie said as she began to walk away "let's go home Armin" without a word Armin followed after her violin and bow in hand. All the way back to the car they could hear Mr.

Leonhart yelling furiously.

"So what was that all about," Armin asked as they drove home.

"What's that?" Annie said looking up from her violin inspecting

"You know fighting your father," Armin said giving her a sidelong glance

With a heavy sigh, Annie finally said: "he never approved of me going to shiganshina, let alone for violin…"

"But you kicked his ass!" Armin said "he's a cripple"

"Ok, first off," Annie said adjusting herself to face Armin "I didn't kick his ass, he knows exactly how to fight, it's what he does. Second, I know he's crippled because I crippled him, this isn't the first time I've fought my father, and I'm sure it won't be the last. More often than not he would win these fights, It's only luck that I was able to beat him."

Seeing the subject was making her upset Armin dropped it and continued driving home. They drove the whole five hours home and by the time the finally arrived at the apartment it was already late afternoon. Upon entering the apartment the two were met with a barrage of questions, mostly from Mikasa who wasn't told they were leaving.

"What happened"

"Where did you go"

"Are you ok"

"Why didn't you tell me" it wasn't until Eren finally pried her off of Armin and Annie that the answered her questions.

"We had to go to liberio, to get this" Annie said holding up the violin "it was my mothers"

"I see," Mikasa said calmly to everyone's amazement even Annie's

"So your not mad?" Annie asked a little confused

"No, why would I be?" Mikasa said "you did what you had to, and I'm proud of you for that"

Both Eren and Armin were confused by this turn of events but neither of them dared question all that had just transpired

"Alright we'll I think you two could do good with a good hot meal, a shower, and some sleep," Eren said pushing both Armin and Annie into their room, and so the rest of the day Armin and Annie spent recouping from their long trip.

"Alright we'll be back," Eren said as he and Mikasa made their way out. Armin and Annie were now all alone in the apartment.

"Hey Armin," Annie said

"Ya," Armin said sitting up

"You still wanna hear me play?" Annie said her cheeks turning a soft red color

"Sure," Armin said as Annie got up to get her new violin. Taking a seat in one of the armchairs close to the table Annie brought the bow up to the violin and began. She didn't know what she was playing but she knew I was right just from the look on Armin's face and the feeling in her heart.

Her bow flicked back and forth along the strings of the violin with such speed and grace, her eyes were closed and her fingers gliding along the strings. Her instrument seemed to sing a story what it was about Armin had no clue but he could feel its passion, it was strong and soft, quiet, foreboding yet kind all at the same time. As Annie opened her eyes and watched Armin the song suddenly began to change, it took on a more timid, quiet, a kind sound that seemed to invite, she didn't know if it was the same for him but this is what she felt as she thought of Armin.

Steadily the two opposing melodies finally became one, balanced in its state. It just seemed to float away as Annie lifted her bow across the strings. It felt to Annie as if she had been playing for hours, but as a matter of fact, she was only playing for a few moments, but it spoke a lifetime worth of feelings.

For the next week, Annie played on her new violin taking every moment she could to study it and become accustomed to it and its feeling until finally, friday came, the day of her duel with Hitch.

"A bit extravagant don't you think?" Annie said to Hitch as they both stood on the stage in the Karl Fritz memorial hall, the small auditorium in the school, it was past class hours so no one would be there to bother them.

"What already getting cold feet!?" Hitch said in a mocking tone

"Not at all," Annie said defiantly knowing full well Hitch was trying to break her, but she wouldn't give in so easily "shall we start"

Without even saying a word Hitch simply opened her case and got her viola ready, Annie did likewise with her violin. As they both glared at each other from the opposite sides of the sage suddenly the doors to the auditorium opened and in walked Marlo, Armin, Eren, Mikasa, Krista, and Sasha.

Both Annie and Hitch looked at each other confused until from behind them they hear the familiar voice of Keith shadis "you didn't think you could make a decision like this without me at least witnessing it did you? alright one minute, three rounds, whoever impresses me the most takes the leader position alright. Hitch your first."

Fire in her eyes Hitch brought her bow to her viola, she strung together a plethora of low rich notes into a simple melody that didn't sound too bad.

"Stop," Mr. shadis said "not bad, Annie your move"

Taking a breath Annie started slow and low but quickly she began to bring up the sound and intensity until it fell to a soft hushed repeat of the beginning.

"Stop," Mr. shadis said once again "the first point goes to Annie, go ahead Hitch"

Flustered Hitch pulled out all the stops she started fast with a flurry of eighth and sixteenth notes but slowly brought it down to a slow steady end, Smugly she grinned at Annie as if to say 'top that'

Without even needing Mr. Shadis to say a thing Annie played out a short string of steady notes building them up to a sudden fast movement and ending with a stinger.

"Point to Hitch," Mr. shadis said "deciding point"

There it was again, that smug grin. Hitch was off on another long string of high notes peppered with long low notes that finally fell to a long final note.

This time Annie took a moment, took a breath and a glance at Armin who was sitting up front giving her a warm smile it was at this moment Annie realised 'i don't have anything I need to prove, I have everything I need' with that in mind Annie ran her bow along the strings in a steady rhythm, eyes closed she pictured that smile, that hug, her happy place.

Before she knew it Mr. Shadis finally said "stop." taking a moment Mr. Shadis looked at both violinists "you both did very well but there can only be one victor, and by my authority as the director of music I deem the victor Annie lionheart, congratulations."

Dimly Annie accepted a handshake from not only Mr. shadis but Hitch as well, the latter being more shocking as she looked at Hitch sh expected her to be furious, to her surprise the was not hatred in her eyes but admiration.

"May I see your violin" Hitch said not a hint of bad intention in her voice. Hesitantly Annie handed Hitch her violin, with gentle hands Hitch examined it. "you'll make a fine leader" finally handing Annie her violin back.

"Thank you," Annie said confused by Hitch's sudden change of attitude.

Quickly running down the stairs of the stage she ran right into the waiting arms of Armin

"I'm so proud of you," Armin said holding her close

The rest of that day there were many people congratulating Annie and praising her skill

So for the next week, Annie set herself up to learn all that she could from Mr. Shadis and Hitch who was surprisingly helpful in teaching Annie. Until finally, Sunday came, the day of their new years show. This show was a common tradition that was always held in the main square of the school for those of the public to come see. This year would be a very special year as they were now under Annie's management and she would give her own spin to this show as Mr. shadis put

it.

As the girls performed for the crowd a thought suddenly jumped into her mind as she saw Armin in the crowd. Finally, as the concert ended Annie and Armin began to walk waiting for the clock to finally strike twelve.

As he entered the small park Annie instinctually went for the tree "do you remember this place?" Annie said as she traced her hand down the cold bark of the tree

"How could I forget it," Armin said Taking her hand in his Armin pulled her close "do you remember this place?"

"Never forgot it," Annie said leaning up to kiss him until Armin's phone began to go off in his pocket.

Letting out a heavy sigh Armin pulled out his phone to see what it was that ruined the moment they were having. Looking down at his phone Armin suddenly realized it was about to be the new year. "Come on," Armin said taking Annie's hand and leading her to a clear patch of the park where they could see the fireworks. After waiting for a few minutes the new year rang free as the fireworks began to fly in the distance.

"Happy new year Annie," Armin said holding her close as they lay in the grass watching the fireworks

"Happy new year Armin," Annie said as she leaned over and kissed Armin into the new year.

 **alright people there we go, sorry it took so long, my mother was sick in the hospital, but she's ok now and I'm back to so we're back to the regular posting.**  
 **fox**


	19. new start chapter 6

**New start chapter 6**

"Hey Eren we need to talk," Mikasa said one afternoon as the four housemates were sitting around the table "now"

"Instantly getting the message Annie tugged on Armin's sleeve making a gesture towards the door. "We'll just excuse ourselves," Annie said dragging a dumbfounded Armin out the door with her.

"What do you think that's about," Armin asked confused as to what had just transpired.

"I'm sure everything's fine," Annie said "it's probably too personal for her to talk about with us

there"

"Ya, your probably right," Armin said shaking all the bad thoughts from his mind

"Come on let's head to the library, see if there's anyone around," Annie said leading the way from the apartment.

"Eren we need to go back home," Mikasa said

"No, we don't!" Eren said frustrated by this conversation already "there's nothing there to go back to"

"Eren…" Mikasa said taking Eren's hand " I know it's hard to see your father the same way but we need to go, please"

All Eren could do was look away, he knew if he even looked at Mikasa she would get him ' _i need to stay strong, for us'_ Eren thought ' _he lied to us, and now he's threatening us that bastard!'_

All of a sudden Eren was pulled from his thoughts as he felt Mikasa's warm hands pulling his face to look at her and just like that there was nothing left for him to argue as he stared into her dark eyes he knew he had to go, he had to face his father and Dina and Zeke.

"Alright," Eren said dropping his head "we'll go next weekend"

"Ok," Mikasa said placing a kiss on Erens head ' _this is going to be a lot harder for him then it is_

 _for me, so I need to support him as much as I can'_

"So until then what are we going to tell Armin and Annie?" Eren said as he packed away his work.

"You don't want to tell them the truth?" Mikasa asked confused

"No," Eren said he knew Annie had enough to worry about with the ensemble and Armin would insist on going too if he knew there was a chance they would get in trouble. "For now we'll just tell him it's nothing, ok"

"Alright," Mikasa said apprehensively, she knew this was already hard for Eren, whatever could help him is probably best. "I'll start getting things ready" planting another kiss on Erens head she set off leaving Eren to his thoughts. ' _That asshole! He betrayed us and now he's using my only family left to get what he wants. Alright, dad, you wanna talk, we'll talk, we'll talk alright.'_

As Armin and Annie walked along the paved campus roads of the college they heard from the direction of the central fountain "Armin, Annie!" both glancing over they saw Marco sitting on the lip of the fountain with Jean next to him. As they made their way to the fountain they saw the small frame of Krista sitting with them her legs dangling over the edge.

"Hi Armin, hi Annie," Krista said flashing them both a large smile "what are you doing out here so late."

"We were just out for a walk," Armin said a grin forming on his face as well

"Then it's probably good that the weathers starting to clear up then," Jean said

"It's still kinda cold though Krista said pulling her jacket up around her neck a bit.

"Wheres Ymir?" Annie asked as she looked around surprised when Krista's protector was nowhere to be seen

"Oh, right," Krista said "ya, she had business to do with Reiner"

"Ah I see," Annie said a little confused 'i didn't know the giant knew Ymir'

"Hey Armin, you wanna come hang out with us and Connie," Jean said gesturing towards Marco

"I don't know, I've some stuff to do back at the house," Armin said thinking of the how messy the

apartment.

"Go ahead," Annie said with a grin nudging Armin "the work will be there when you get back"

"Ya and me and Annie can go see if Sasha is still here!" Krista said standing up on the fountain

"Now wait a minute," Annie said a little concerned she was volunteered so fast "I've gotta go practice"

"Oh, I see," Krista said sitting back down

"The practice will be there when you get back," Armin said grinning like a fool as he nudged Annie "she'd love to join you"

"Alright! Come on" Krista said jumping up and taking Annie's hand. As Krista practically dragged Annie, Armin could see Annie glare daggers at him.

"Should we get going then?" Marco said as he got up "Connie said he'd meet us in the biggest practice room."

"Lead the way," Armin said knowing Annie was definitely going to make him pay for that when he got home.

Finally arriving at the practice room they found it empty. "Well, I guess we could wait," Jean said as he sat in one of the seats in the practice room.

"Hey, Armin you play piano don't you?" Jean said as he stared at the small piano in the corner of the room.

"Ya, my grandpa had a friend who offered to teach me when I was eight or nine," Armin said as he remembered those days of adolescents.

"Can you play something for us?" Marco said as he sat down as well

"Ya," Armin said as he sat at the piano "but I haven't played for a long time" stretching out his hands for a moment Armin focused his attention on the smooth keys of the piano. Without using a lot of pressure he pushed down on the keys, the sound was nice and crisp.

As he moved his hands up and down the keys he thought ' _i miss playing piano, maybe I should get back to playing regularly, I know there's a jazz club maybe I could perform with them, but I don't know anyone their though'_

Armin was suddenly pulled from his thoughts as his finger slipped off one of the black keys and hit the white key just below it making a horrible chord spring to life. "Like I said, I haven't played in a long time"

"Don't worry about it." Jean said none of us are judging you know I used to play trumpet back in middle school"

"Ya that's where we met," Marco said "I used to play percussion"

"You played percussion?" Armin said a little confused

"Ya, why does this shock you?" Marco said

"I don't know I kinda pictured you a flute kinda person," Armin said with a chuckle

Suddenly their conversation was cut short as Connie opened the door and let himself in "hey sorry I'm late" Connie said, "you coming with us Armin?"

"Ya thought I'd tag along," Armin said smiling

"Alright let's go then," Marco said getting up and so they set out.

 **alright, there we go. I'm gonna try to keep a regular schedule, but if you guys prefer the longer or shorter chapters please let me know.**

 **fox**


	20. new start chapter 7

**New start chapter 7**

"Well I sent her a message, hopefully, she sees it," Krista said as she put her phone away. She and Annie had spent almost fifteen minutes looking for Sasha to avail. "So what do you want to do Annie?"

' _Go home'_ Annie thought

"you pick," Annie said instead as to not hurt Krisa's feelings

"Alright, let's go get something to eat, I know the perfect place," Krista said taking Annie by the hand again. Taking a short walk Annie was confused when they finally stopped in front of a truck. The smells and of the sounds in the air seems foreign to Annie. As the two blondes made their way up to one of the windows Krista said something to the man inside in a language Annie didn't understand.

Behind the truck there was a small tarp pitched like a tent with some picknick tables under it. There was a lot of people sitting around the tables eating somewhere up talking and dancing to the same foreign music that Annie could hear coming from the truck.

Annie was pulled from her thoughts as Krista reached up and grabbed two disposable plates that had their food on it, ' _wow! It smells delicious'_

"Grab some drinks will you," Krista said gesturing towards a cooler just below the window of the truck.

Quickly grabbing two drinks Annie followed after Krista who picked the table, furthest from the truck, which was the least occupied.

"What is all this" Annie said as Krista handed her a plate.

"Its food silly" Krista said with a smile

"Well I can see that," Annie said lightly kicking Krista "where do these people come

from, I've never seen or heard anything like them"

"Well they come from a foreign country, and so does their food," Krista said taking a bite out of a small taco full of meats. "Most of them legally aren't supposed to be here so they make a living the best way they can"

"Ok but ho…. " Annie said as she too took a bit out of her taco. The taco was moist and warm, it's taste was unlike anything she had ever eaten.

"But…?" Krista said prompting Annie.

"How did you find this kind of place?" Annie said "I never imagined you to come to a place like this"

"Oh, and where would you expect me to be?" Krista said

"Well I kinda saw you eating at places that require reservations, a nice dresses," Annie said

"I'm flattered you think so," Krista said a smile forming on her face "honestly I can't stand those kinds of places."

"Ymir brings you to these kinds of places?" Annie said picturing the tall girl fitting in well here

"Actually no" Krista said after a moment "my oldest sister Frieda used to bring me to these kinds of places, she loved these places"

"I didn't know you had a sister," Annie said 'she doesn't talk about herself much'

"Ha, I have two more brothers and two more sisters," Krista said, "do you have any siblings?"

"No, but I remember growing up with Reiner, and a couple others," Annie said

"Who else," Krista asked taking the opportunity to learn more about Annie

"Well there was Reiner, Bertolt, and Zeke" Annie said remembering her old companions

"... So I'm covered in mud and Sasha is over there fighting the biggest guy you've ever seen all for a loaf of sweet bread. Next thing you know we have to book it when we see three of his friends coming after us!" Connie said as the four friends sat around a dimly lit table a small pile of poker chips in the center.

"What then," Jean said laughing

"Well we lose them and hide out in the park till morning when we finally go home," Connie said recalling the shenanigans he and Sasha had gotten into while they were out on a late night food run.

"Hey you know what we should do," Marco said between sips of his drink "we should go on vacation during spring break"

"That sounds fun," Armin said

"Ya I'm in," Connie said "hey Jean, didn't you say something about a lake house the other day"

"I could talk to my folks, but I think I'd be ok," Jean said as he thought.

"If that doesn't work out I know Eren's dad has a ski lodge somewhere up in the mountains, we could ask him too"

"Ya that could work too," Marco said as Connie delt everyone new card.

"Alright we could work on that some more but right now I gotta take off," Connie said looking down at his phone "see you guys later" and with that Connie set out leaving Armin, Marco, and Jean.

"Nice guy," Marco said more to himself than out loud

"Ya he's great," Armin said

"Am I the only one who noticed that he spends a lot of time with Sasha?" Jean asked

"What do you mean?" Marco said cocking his head to the side

"I… uh… nevermind" Jean said with a sigh "let's just get back to the card game.

After another hour of playing cards, the three friends decided to rap up and go home. As Armin entered the apartment he expected to see Annie, or at least Eren and Mikasa, but to his surprise, there was no one home. Entering the kitchen Armin found a note on the counter that read. Went to the market, be back in a couple of hours. Mikasa.'

"Well, that explains where they're at," Armin said to himself "but wheres Annie?"

a moment later Armin heard the turning of the doorknob and in walk Krista with Annie practically hanging from her shoulder.

"What happened to you two!?" Armin said shock

"She's fine she just had too much to drink," Krista said as she dragged Annie to the

couch in the living room

"Did you drag her all the way here?" Armin asked

"No," Krista said dropping Annie on the couch "she fell asleep a block from the apartment"

"Alright thanks for getting her home, can you make it home?" Armin said

"Ya its no problem," Krista said as she made her way to the door "when she wakes, tell her to take it easy, ok"

"Alright," Armin said as Krista let herself out. Getting a blanket and his book Armin sat in the living room with Annie as she slept. An hour later Annie finally began to stir, with a loud yawn Annie stretched her arms up past her head.

"Armin?" Annie said in a strained voice "what happened?"

Crouching down in front of her Armin put his hand on her forehead "you had too much to drink" Armin said "Krista brought you home"

"Really," Annie said sounding genuinely astonished "Armin?"

"Ya," armin said

"can you bring me a bucket," Annie said dropping her head. Quickly retrieving a bucket Armin handed it to her.

"You feel sick?" Armin asked kneeling down beside her again. She didn't even need to answer as she suddenly began to throw up in the bucket. All Armin could do was sit there and try to comfort her, gently patting her on the back.

"You feel better now?" Armin said

"Hey Armin," Annie said ignoring his question "do you have a girlfriend?"

"What?" Armin asked not sure if he had heard her correctly

"You know you would look really cute with glasses," Annie said

"Annie you need to sleep now," Armin said gently laying her on her side

"I… I can't I have to catch my flight," Annie said trying to sit up

"It'll be there in the morning, sleep now, ok," Armin said finally getting her to lay down

"Armin?" Annie said weakly "Am I being a good leader?"

"Your doing just fine," Armin said as he sat down to keep an eye on Annie just in case.

"I'm sure the others would agree."

"Why is hitch being so nice to me, she hates me?" Annie said finally dozing off

"What is that horrible smell," Annie said when she finally got up, it was already noon luckily though it was Saturday

"Oh, that was your adventure with Krista from the other day, Here," Mikasa said handing Annie a cup of black coffee "you look like you need it"

"Thanks," Annie said taking the cup "wheres Armin?"

"He left with Eren to deal with some business from yesterday," Mikasa said as he leaned against the kitchen counter

"Is something bothering you?" Annie said as she watched Mikasa she seemed even more reserved than usual.

"It. it's nothing, I've just got a lot on my mind" Mikasa said staring at her coffee "wait!, I almost forgot to give you this back" quickly Mikasa went to the dining room and came back with Annie's phone. "Krista said you dropped it while you two were out"

"Thank…" Annie stopped mid-sentence as she scrolled through all the messages you on her phone "I need to go,!"

"What, where are you going!?" Mikasa said confused

"I need to go talk to Mr. Shadis!" Annie said as she and Mikasa set out.

 **alright, we're nearing the nearing of this first arc. thanks for reading.**

 **fox**


	21. new start chapter 8

**New start chapter 8**

"Some leader doesn't even show up when she's called," hitch said as she tapped her watch

"She'll be here, I promise, I saw her last night," Krista said as she squirmed nervously in her seat

With a heavy sigh, Mr. Shadis looked at the clock on the wall across from his large oak desk.

"I sent her a message," Sasha said as she looked down at her phone "she'll be here soon"

Looking at all three girls sitting across from him Mr. Shadis felt a tinge of sympathy if only for a moment "alright, well give her a few more minut…." Suddenly he was cut off as the doors to his office were pushed open and in walked a messy-haired Annie with Mikasa in tow. After a moment of shock, Mr. Shadis said "miss Leonhart, nice of you to join us, take a seat. Miss Ackerman, you may go"

"I'll stay," Mikasa said bluntly staring Mr. Shadis down

Without breaking eye contact Mr. Shadis said: "suit yourself, sit."

"Whats this all about" Annie finally said. She knew what this was but she wanted to hear it for herself.

"Your being disbanded." Mr. Shadis said a rough tone to his voice

"Can I ask why?" Annie said once again she was pretty sure she knew why

"You no longer have enough members to continue to function." Mr. Shadis said, "miss Dreyse is no longer able."

"Is there nothing that can be done," Annie said half pleading

"I'm afraid no." Mr. Shadis said, "you're all excused, miss Leonhart can I speak with you in private for a moment."

As the others got up to leave all Annie could think was ' _is being the leader that important to you that you would destroy the entire group Hitch? does your pride have no limit.'_

Finally, after the others were gone Mr. Shadis said "miss Leonhart I hate to see fighting amongst the groups, I expect more than that from you"

"I know bu…" Annie began to say but was cut off as Mr. Shadis raised his hand to silence her.

"That being said," Mr. Shadis said "I do see how hitch has manipulated the system. Now there is nothing I can do to keep her from leaving, but what I can do is give you a day, only one day, to find some new members, ok."

"You would really do that?" Annie said shock at the compassion she saw in Mr. Shadis usually stern eyes.

"Miss Lionheart don't get this confused, I only want a long-standing band to continue existing, that's all, find another member and you may continue to operate as usual.

"Thank you Mr. Shadis," Annie said getting up to leave. As she exited the office she was greeted by a barrage of questions

"What did Mr. Shadis talk to you about," Mikasa said

"What are we going to do now," Krista said

"Why were you late," Sasha said

"I overslept, we're going to keep moving because Mr. Shadis said if we can get another member then we can continue to function as usual," Annie said answering all their questions at once

"Alright, let's go see if we can find another violist!" Sasha said as she Krista, Mikasa, and

Annie made their way out of the building in search of their new member.

"Well I could ask him next week," Eren said as Armin told him about Marcos idea. The two were walking back to the apartment after talking with Jean and Marco about the spring trip idea.

"You and Mikasa are going home?" Armin said

"Ya, it's about time we visited" Eren lied he didn't want to lie but he knew Armin would want to come if he knew. ' _The fewer people the easier this will be'_

After a moment of silence, Armin said "you're going to confront your dad aren't you"

"No!" Eren said "what makes you think that"

"I can see it on your face," Armin said "come on Eren, we've known each other since before elementary school"

"Look there's nothing wrong, ok so just drop it," Eren said walking ahead of his friend

Without another word, the duo entered the apartment to find it a disaster. There were papers scattered about, books flung across every surface. In the middle of this disaster there sat Krista, Sasha, Mikasa, and Annie all sitting around the table examining different books and papers.

"What is going on here!" Eren said completely in awe of the mess

"We're looking for a new member and we thought we'd check our old yearbooks see if

we could find anyone who even used to play" Sasha. Said not even looking up from her book

"O.k," Eren said still confused as he made his way to his room.

"Hey Armin you have any yearbooks," Krista said as Armin brought some tea for the girls and himself.

"I might," Armin said thinking of the box of old stuff he brought from home. "They would probably be in the storage unit"

"Quickly go get them!" Sasha said the more people we can find the better

"I'll come with you," Annie said getting up and together she and Armin set off to the storage unit.

They were quiet as they left the apartment complex until Annie finally said: "I knew this would happen, no matter what hitch does it's always to fuck someone else over."

Armin wasn't sure how he was supposed to respond ' _ya hitch is definitely not easy to deal with, but there has to be something more to this'_

"Maybe it isn't hitch, maybe it's me,"Annie said staring down at her feet.

Suddenly she was jerked from her train of thought as Armin pulled her close. "This wasn't you," Armin said, "Hitch is a stubborn person, just don't let her get to you."

"That's the problem….she does get to me," Annie said to herself

Armin set his forehead against hers so they were looking eye to eye. "Trust me, you are ten times the leader she was. The fact that your trying to continue even without her is proof of that"

"I just hate being in charge, it's not for me," Annie said tears forming in her soft blue eyes.

Gently Armin wiped away her tears and said "no one's making you. They follow you because of your determination."

"But I can't do it," Annie said feeling ashamed of her weakness

"I know you can do this, I can feel it," Armin said giving Annie a smile

 _'that smile_ ' Annie thought ' _that's why I keep going, that's my home'_ slowly she raped her arms around Armin ' _yes this is why I keep going'_ lifting her eyes so she could look into Armin's she said "I can keep going if you're here with me"

"Always," Armin said leaning down to kiss Annie. "Now let's go get that book so we can find you a new player"

 **alright, there we go. let me know what you think in the comments.**

 **fox**


	22. new start chapter 9

**New start chapter 9**

"ahhh we've been at this for weeks, why can't we find anyone," Sasha said throwing her hand up in frustration.

"It's only been five days," Annie said in truth it has only been about three. Most of their free time was devoted to finding their new member but they all still needed to go to classes as well.

"Well it feels like it's been weeks," Sasha said pouting

"Maybe we need a break," Krista said as she put her book down

"I'll go make some tea," Mikasa said getting up "give me a hand Sasha"

"We'll find someone don't you worry," Krista said as Annie went back to her search. "There's gotta be someone" Annie didn't answer. "You know we could take a break, we still have time"

"No we don't have time," Annie said looking up from her book "we are running out of time, we need to find someone or the group dies"

"Don't worry I know we'll find someone," Krista said more trying to reassure herself then Annie

"How do you know!?" Annie said standing up frustrated "what if we don't find someone, then what!?"

Slowly Krista got up from her seat. Placing her hands on Annie's shoulders she slightly shook her and in a soft tone Krista said: "We will find someone, and I know because I just know, ok, now take a break."

"Alright," Annie said letting her head drop. She was exhausted, all hours of the day she spent scouring the yearbooks, social media, and tracking word of mouth for a new member to replace the treacherous hitch, yet still no luck. Annie was pulled from her thoughts as she heard the door open and in walk in the rest of the 'search party' who had gone out to check on a lead. "Any luck?"

All Armin could do was give a sad shake of his head "no luck" he said a defeated tone in his voice. "You?"

"Nothing," Annie said

"Alright everyone," Mikasa said mid-afternoon "it's time we got going"

"Already?" Annie said getting up from his seat "alright good luck"

"Safe travels," Krista said from her seat at the table

"Bring us back souvenirs," Connie said in a joking tone.

"And food," Sasha said in the same joking manner

"Alright dive safe" Armin said hugging Mikasa and Eren "are you sure you've got everything?"

"Ya," Eren said looking at the bags they were caring, "I think so"

"Alright say hi to your folks for me," Armin said as Eren and Mikasa let themselves out leaving Armin, Annie, Krista, Sasha, and Connie.

"Aren't you two going to be a little lonely?" Krista asked after Eren and Mikasa had left.

"Not really," Armin said glancing at Annie

"Wait I have a brilliant idea!" Sasha said standing up in excitement startling the others

"What do you got!?" Connie said excitedly

"We'll watch the house and you two go take a break," Sasha said to Armin and Annie

"That's a great idea!" Connie said "you two need a break"

"Quick Annie let me and Krista get you ready," Sasha said as she and Krista dragged Annie to the room but not before throwing Armin a new set of clothes and Connie pushed him into the bathroom.

'What just happened?' Armin thought as he stood in the bathroom 'well I guess a break would be nice'

"Hey I don't have time for a break," Annie said as Krista handed her a change of clothes and Sahsa began redoing her hair

"Just go with it you'll thank us later," Sasha said as Annie still struggled

Armin quickly dressed he had a pair of black jeans, a white shirt and a pair of nice shoes. His blonde hair was pulled into a high pony tail. As he exited the bathroom Connie handed him his phone which showed a reseat for a restaurant down the street.

"What's this?" Armin said looking down at the phone

"It's a reservation to the île…. The île something, you'll know it when you see it ok."

"Connie these reservations are expensive, we couldn't take them," Armin said examining the digital reseat.

"Don't worry about it" Connie sad patting Armin on the back a big grin on his face.

The moment ended as the door to Armin and Annie's room and out stepped Krista and Sasha. "Give her a moment," Krista said, "she's still getting adjusted." A moment later Annie stepped out, she wore a soft blue dress that went down just past her knees, a pair of small white heels and a light white sweater draped over her shoulders. Her hair was untied, it looked almost golden framing her beautiful face, her ice blue eyes piercing Armin's heart. Suddenly the two were nudged closer by Connie and Sasha.

"Well, you wouldn't want to be late!" Connie said "I called a cab"

"Here for the fair!" Krista said handing Annie a couple of bills as Connie pushed them both out of the apartment

"oh the joys of Young love," Sasha said fanning herself

"What just happened?" Annie asked as she and Armin walked down the hallway of the apartment

"I think we just got kicked out of our own home," Armin said with a smile

"Well, I suppose we could take a break," Annie said giving Armin a coy smile.

"Shall we then?" Armin said offering Annie his hand

"I suppose we shall," Annie said linking her arm with his making him blush as they made their way out of the apartment to the cab that was waiting.

 **Alright everyone there we go, let me know what you think in the comments**

 **fox**


	23. new start chapter 10

**New start chapter 10**

"We'll be there in an hour," Mikasa said as she looked at the map on her phone it was late afternoon and they were almost home, "have you thought about what you're going to tell your dad?"

"No," Eren said focusing on the road

"Can we stop? I need to stretch a bit" Mikasa said

"Can you wait?" Eren said "like you said we'll be there soon"

"I won't take long," Mikasa said, a few minutes later they pulled off the freeway and into a small rest stop that had a small visitors center and a couple of picnic tables. There were a few tourists milling about the visitors center but the picnic tables were empty, besides the table where

Mikasa sat stretching her legs. "How long has it been since we've been home?"

"A little more than a year, I think," Eren said sitting beside Mikasa

"Do you remember when we used to go camping by the lake?" Mikasa said as she put her head on Eren's shoulder. "Do you remember spending long summer days on the water, on your dad's bout, do you remember what it was called?"

"Ya, I remember, it was called the restoration," Eren said a smile growing on his face as he remembered the days of his youth "I remember mom would always get upset when dad let us stand up while it was moving"

"Ya, I miss going to the lake," Mikasa said

Suddenly Eren rose from where he was seated his fists clenched so tight his knuckles were bone white "come on" he said his hands relaxing "we should get going"

"O.k," Mikasa said as they both got back into the car and continued home.

"Alright, that will be six dollars," the cab driver said as the car stopped in front of a small restaurant. As Armin and Annie got out they saw a sign above the door that read Île paradisiaque

"Well, this looks like the right place," Armin said as he and Annie both walked through the single door into a small waiting room.

"It's a lot smaller than I thought it would be," Annie said. On the opposite wall, there was a set of closed double doors between them stood a man in a tux behind a podium.

"Can I help you?" the waiter said looking up from his podium with a friendly smile.

"Ya, we have reservations," Armin said showing the waiter the reseat.

"Right," the waiter said after looking at the reseat for a moment "please follow me to your seats." the waiter showed them to a booth on the right side of the restaurant that was against a window that outlooked

The sides of the restaurant were lined with soft Booth's. Towards the center of the restaurant, there were tables surrounding a section of hardwood that was designed for dancing. Just beyond the hardwood floor was a low stage where a small jazz combo was playing.

The restaurant was bustling with waiters coming in and out of the kitchen carrying plates. There were people sitting and eating while others danced to the soft sound of the vocalist.

The waiter handed them a set of menus and a bottle of red wine with two glasses. After a moment the waiter returned with a small basket of bread, a pitcher of water, and another set of cups. "What would you like to start with?" the waiter said producing a notepad from his pocket.

"The salad, please," Annie said setting the menu down

"I'll have the tomato soup," Armin said

"I'll have that out you in a few minutes," the waiter said scribbling on his notepad "please enjoy the performance while you wait" and with that, the waiter set off to the kitchen.

"It's really nice of Sasha, Krista and Connie to do this for us," Annie said removing the light sweater she had on.

"Ya" Armin agreed "we should find some way to repay them"

"We could always take them out for drinks," Annie said as she examined the bottle of wine

"Ya, they've definitely earned it," Armin said "what with them helping find a new member"

"Well, I can understand why Sasha and Krista want to find a new member, but Connie I've got no clue," Annie said

"I think I understand why…" Armin said smiling to himself "and it has nothing to do with finding a new member"

"What?" Annie said not catching what Armin said

"It's nothing," Armin said luckily the band began their set at that moment to distract from Armin's comment.

The band was a small jazz band made up of from the looks of it five to six musicians. The only thing Armin could tell from his angle was that it was made up of a pianist, a saxophonist, a percussionist, a trumpeter, and a vocalist. Besides the vocalist who wore a dark green dress, they all wore dark pants, white shirts, and black ties.

"Wait a minute" Annie suddenly said shaking Armin "isn't that Mikasa's cousin up there?"

Armin strained to see the stage but one Annie pointed him out it was impossible to miss him.

Levi was indeed up on stage he was, in fact, the saxophonist and Petra, Levi's wife was singing the vocals. "Hey your right" Armin said surprised " I didn't know they performed"

"You wanna go say hi to them?" Armin asked

"Sure," Annie said "but let's wait for them to finish their first set

"Eren! Mikasa! Ooh, i've missed you so much!" there mother Carla said hugging them both for almost a minute. Carla was moderately aged with dark hair with gray streaks.

"We missed you too" Mikasa said smiling as she embraced her adopted mother

"Where's dad," Eren said looking around the house

"He's still at the hospital," Carla said with a chuckle "saving lives is no easy task"

"Sure," Eren said as he gathered the bags from the ground and followed Carla and Mikasa through the large house that his father had used his wealth to build. Eren and Mikasa were going to spend at most three days here and then head back home.

"alright I'll leave you two to get comfortable," Carla said "I'll call you when your father gets here"

"Alright, thanks," Mikasa said as she began unpacking the bags

after a moment of silence, Eren finally said "seems the same since we left"

"Well some things never change," Mikasa said thinking of the short-tempered Eren has had since they were little.

As Eren and Mikasa finally finished showering and changing Carla knocked on the door "Eren, Mikasa your father's home"

"Right, we'll be down in a minute," Mikasa said

After another few minutes, they made their way downstairs to the kitchen

"Hey there kiddo" Grisha, their father said. Grisha was at this point an old man he too had dark gray hair with a similar colored mustache and beard.

Grisha was the director of the hospital in town and was credited with fixing the hospital after it had suffered from budget cutbacks, he supposedly put most of his money into saving the hospital.

"Hey there brother" without turning around Eren knew the sound of his damned half-brother

"Zeke" Eren said ' _this is going to be a long day'_

 **alright there we are thanks for reading please comment, thanks**  
 **fox**


	24. new start chapter 11

**New start chapter 11**

"Nice job, go ahead and take a break," the owner of the restaurant said as Levi and his friends finished their first set.

"Thanks," Petra said as the five friends stepped off the stage to the sound of the audience's applause.

Gunther, the percussionist, and Eld, the trumpeter, were sitting playing card neither of them had to say anything, they were longtime friends both from the same small town. Oluo, the pianist, was talking with the owner. Levi, the saxophonist, and leader were sitting next to Petra who did the vocals for the combo.

"Hey caption," Oluo said as he walked over to where Levi and Petra were sitting, "I thought we had agreed on a thousand?"

"We did," Levi said calmly

"Then how come we're only getting eight-hundred!?" Oluo said furiously

"Because you're going to drink more than two-hundred," Levi said

"You can't do that without asking the rest of our permission!" Oluo said now more furious, his face began to look red.

"Can't I?" Levi said, "I thought I was in charge?"

"Well.. you are," Oluo said picking his words carefully "but this is a gross misuse of your power"

"Is it?" Levi

It was at this point Oluo realized that Levi was making fun of him "you can't do this without consulting the rest of the gr…" Oluo said until he suddenly fell silent, from inside his mouth Petra could see blood. Oluo had bitten his tongue again, he had the bad habit of biting his tongue when he talked too much, Quickly Oluo rushed off to the bathroom his mouth a mess.

As Oluo ran out of sight another silhouette came into view as the two figures came closer Petra recognized them to be Erwin Smith, the student council president, and Hanji Zoë, the vice president.

"not bad," Erwin said patting Gunther on the back as he and Hanji walked to where Levi and Petra sat.

"You guys sound amazing," Hanji said shaking hands with Levi and Petra "aren't you glad I told you about this place"

"You didn't do anything four-eyes," Levi said flatly

"What, I did plenty!" Hanji said clasping her hands over her mouth shocked "I got you guys this gig"

"No, you came here and tried to communicate with the fish," Erwin said

"I still think they could understand me Hanji said with a wide grin, at this, the four friends laughed until Petra heard someone calling her and Levi's names. Looking up she saw Eren and Mikasa's friends Armin and Annie.

"Armin, Annie!, what are you two doing here?" Petra said waving at them as they came closer.

"We were out and saw you were performing and thought we'd say hi," Armin said with a grin on his face

Suddenly Petra remembered Erwin and Hanji "Armin, Annie this is Erwin and Hanji, the president and vice president," she said gesturing towards Erwin and Hanji who both smiled at the two newcomers.

"Your Erwin Smith, the president!?" Armin said looking almost shocked.

"That I am," Erwin said knowing full well that his reputation often precedes him.

"Wow, it's nice to meet you, Mr. Smith," Armin said shaking Erwins hand

"No please call me Erwin, and I presume you are Armin?" Erwin said

"Yes, yes I am," Armin said overjoyed "this is Annie"

"Nice to meet you," Erwin said shaking Annies' hand " I had the pleasure of seeing you perform last year at the holiday performance, you sounded phenomenal"

"Thank you," Annie said shaking Erwins hand in return

"I'm surprised I haven't heard anything from your group recently," Erwin said

"We're in somewhat of a transition period," Annie said her eyes narrowing 'how much do you know '

"If there's anything I can do to help just ask," Erwin said his eyes narrowing too his grip tightening

"That will do Annie said tightening her grip in response

Letting go of his grip "Hanji, I think it's time we took our leave" Erwin said "it was a pleasure to meet you both"

"Likewise," Annie said

Armin, unaware of the stare down that had just happened, said "it was nice to meet you too"

At that Erwin and Hanji, both made their way to the door, not long after Armin and Annie returned to their seats where the waiter had just brought out their appetizers.

"They seemed a bit skittish," Armin said as he and Annie ate

"They did, didn't they," Annie said knowing full well Armin was talking about Erwin and Hanji "it was probably nothing"

"Your probably right, have you thought maybe Erwin might have some way of helping you with the search?"

"I don't think he could help that much" Annie said

After a moment of silence, Armin said "I was thinking of joining some group as well, you know get back to playing piano"

"Why?" Annie said

"Well I kinda miss playing and I figure playing with others for a change would be nice," Armin said "kinda like Levi and his group, you can tell just from looking at them that they want to be their"

"How can you tell that," Annie said looking up at the small jazz combo that performed on stage

"You can hear it in their sound, in their eyes, they feel at home when they play together," Armin said, "it's like a…"

"Like a family," Annie said finishing his sentence. Annie realized as she said this her mind jumped to Sasha, Krista and Connie at home looking through books and all over the internet, jean and Marco out looking into leads, Eren and Mikasa devoting hours into searching for something that will never benefit them, and Armin. Armin has spent weeks helping her take lead and even when she failed at that he still kept pushing her. All of these people were her family, Annie realized. "Armin… you're a genius"

"I am?" Armin said confused "how so?"

"We don't need to replace Hitch," Annie said we already have everyone we need"

"Where," Armin said still confused

"We have our family Armin," Annie said as she saw the cogs turning in Armin's head.

"Eren come back here!" Carla said as Eren got up to leave the large dining room table where he, Mikasa, Carla, Zeke, and his father sat.

"Come on Eren," Zeke said a wide grin on his face "please brother sit with us"

"You're not my brother!" Eren said turning to face the now standing Zeke "your not my family"

"I'm more family then even she is," Zeke said gesturing towards Zeke during the entire meal Zeke never addressed Mikasa only addressing her as her or Ackerman.

"Eren, Zeke both of you sit down!" Carla yelled

"You shut your mouth!" Eren said moving to stand in front of Zeke "you are nothing to me, let alone anything compared to Mikasa"

"Really," Zeke said almost testing Eren

"Say one more thing about my family and I'm going to kick your ass!" Eren said

"Eren! Sit down" Carla said furiously now

"Your nothing but a suicidal idiot" Zeke practically spitting in Eren's face and with that, he was sent sprawling across the floor, but not by Eren's hand. As silent and as quick as the wind Mikasa had stood up and had hit Zeke with enough force and surprise to send him to the floor.

"Let's go," Mikasa said silencing the entire room, and with Zeke still on the floor clutching his bloody nose, Eren and Mikasa gathered their things and went back to the car and set back off the way they had come.

"Why didn't you do anything," Carla said to Grisha as they were the only ones left sitting at the table

"There's no need to it's just a bit of sibling rivalry," Grisha said calmly

"This is far beyond some sibling rivalry Grisha," Carla said

"Well they will have to learn to deal with each other" Grisha said "one way or another"

 **Alright there we go, we are about to shift gears here pretty soon, So stay tuned. Thanks for reading.**

 **Fox**


	25. new start chapter 12

**New start chapter 12**

"Mikasa?" Eren said as he and Mikasa packed their things it was the morning after that eventful dinner. They had spent the rest of the night in the room packing away their stuff, preparing for the drive back home.

"What," Mikasa said bluntly as she continued to pack away clothes, obviously in no mood to talk.

"Mikasa?" Eren said trying to get her to look up

"What," Mikasa said once again now more annoyed than before

"Mikasa?!" Eren said grabbing Mikasa by the shoulders "look at me"

Sighing heavily Mikasa turned her gaze to Eren expecting to see anger in his eyes. To her surprise all she saw was pain.

Eren was never someone to show much emotion, so seeing his eyes now spoke volumes about the situation. Eren was hurt by all this, he really was trying to make things up with his father.

A few weeks into their second quarter Eren's father had revealed that when he was younger he had fooled around and got a woman named Dina pregnant and had another son, who Dina named Zeke. The death of Dina had brought Zeke in search of his father, Grisha.

"Mikasa?! Look at me, we'll be fine" Eren said "we don't need his filthy money, we can make it without him, I promise I'll find a way"

"That's not what I'm worried about," Mikasa said leaning her head on Eren's hand " I'm worried about this family, it's the only family we have left"

"No, no it isn't," Eren said pulling her into a hug "we always have each other"

"And Armin and Annie" Mikasa said more to herself

"Ya, Armin and Annie too," Eren said 'Armin's more, my brother, then that bastard Zeke'

"Come on it's time to go home," Eren said lifting Mikasa's head to look at him

"Yes, home" Mikasa repeated now more confident in this their current path

They spent the next half hour packing away the remainder of their belongings, after which they gathered their bags and made their out.

"Please, won't you two stay a little while longer" Carla, Eren's mother' said flowing Eren and Mikasa out

"No we can't stay any longer" Eren said not even sparing a glance

"Please Mikasa, Eren this is your home," Carla said now pleading with them

"No mom," Eren said turning now to face her "this place was never our home, I just never realized it till now"

"It's time for us to go," Mikasa said hugging Carla for a moment before she and Eren got in the car and began the journey home.

As they drove from the house out of the corner of his eye Eren could see his father in the window of his study that looked out at the driveway. Eren wouldn't even spare him a glance, he had tried to patch things up but he couldn't.

"Hey Eren could we make one quick stop," Mikasa said as she drove down the road

"Where?" Eren said

"It's a surprise" Mikasa said "just trust me"

They were deep into town when Eren finally realized where they were going they were going to the junkyard, where the garrison was.

The garrison was a group dedicated to protecting the rights of those in the small community and making sure that it was heard by those higher on food chain. The garrison had people stationed all over the region and this was no exception. The garrison was lead by Dot Pixis who also worked as a cook for the school. This leader of this branch was who they were off to see.

Hannes was the branch cation of this part of shiganshina district and only reported to commander Pixis himself. He and his underlings had made their bass operation in the junkyard, where they could hear all that went on in the community. As he sat in his study mad from the junk itself he suddenly realized he could hear car tires.

As Eren and Mikasa pulled into the junkyard they immediately recognized Hannes's junk office, it hadn't changed since they were little, when they used to run around the junkyard with Armin playing hide and seek. From the doorway of the small hut, Eren could see Hannes, not a hair out of place since the last he had seen him. He was tall and slender with blonde hair, a mustache and the same brown jacket he always wore.

"Kids!" Hannes said instantly recognizing dr. yeager's kids, even if they were a bit bigger "I was wondering when I would be seeing you"

"Hey Hannes," Eren said giving the older man a hug "it's nice to see you"

"That's all I get, a hey Hannes" Hannes said puffing out his chest mimicking Eren

"Nice to know you haven't changed at all" Mikasa said with a smile, hugging Hannes

"Well you know nothing really changes in these parts," Hannes said, "where's Arlert?"

"Armin's still home," Eren said "we just came to visit mom"

"And your dad?" Hannes prompted "how's he?"

"Same as usual," Eren said they all knew exactly what that meant

"No worries he's been that way since the day he got here," Hannes said

Originally Grisha wasn't from shiganshina district he came from Marley, but after he met Eren's mother they both moved here where Eren was born. At that time Hannes was nothing more than the local mechanic and drunk, now he was a caption and still a drunk.

"How's your wife?" Mikasa asked

"Oh she's fine" Hannes said he and his wife have been married for the better part of their lives now. "She did say she saw you two when she was over that way at a concert for one of her

nieces"

"Probably," Eren said "we've gone to a lot of the concerts to support Armin's girlfriend, Annie"

"Well I'll be damned," Hannes said with a smile " I didn't think the little squirt had it in him"

"Ya she used to play violin for one of the collages music groups," Mikasa said

"Well that's great," Hannes said "anyway it's best you guys get going before I get in trouble for not working"

"Alright bye Hannes," Eren and Mikasa said as they started driving away

"Hey and come see me the next time you to come back into town, O.K," Hannes yelled back

And with that Eren and Mikasa finally made their way back home.

When they finally returned home it was already late afternoon, as the finally stumbled back into the apartment exhausted from the drive and the long march up the stairs they did not expect to see the apartment completely clean, and tidy, in complete contrast to the apartment they had left.

"Armin, Annie" Eren called out somewhat dumbfounded by the status of the apartment

Suddenly they heard a loud thump coming from the couch where apparently Armin and Annie were both napping together. Until Eren and Mikasa had entered scaring them both awake and causing Armin to fall from the couch and hitting his head on the corner of the coffee table.

"What are you two doing home," Armin said his face red and his and pressed to the back of his head

"We came home early," Mikasa said slightly amused by the couples shines "what were you two doing"

"Nothing," Annie said quickly his face turning a deeper shade of red "absolutely nothing"

"Sure," Eren said as he took the bags to the room

"Anyway how were things while we were gone," Mikasa said letting them off the hook " I see you two cleaned up"

"Actually that wasn't us," Annie said getting a bandage and ice pack to put on the bump on Armin's head "it was actually Sasha, Connie, and Krista"

"Oh that's nice of them," Mikasa said dropping down into one of the armchairs

"We actually went out to this nice restaurant," Armin said between winces as Annie pressed the ice pack on his head "we also saw Levi and his band, did you know they performed"

"Ya I used to get lessons from Levi," Eren said from the room "that's where I first met him and the rest of his band of weirdos"

"That reminds me," Annie said to Eren and Mikasa, "I think I have a proposal for you two"

"What kind of proposal?" Eren asked almost scared to know

"You'll like it I promise," Armin said "I just know it"

 **Alright, there we go, were almost about to shift here in the next chapter or possibly the one after that so stay tuned. thanks for reading.**

 **fox**


	26. new start chapter 13

**New start chapter 13**

Armin looked at the clock anxiously, it read seven thirty. The others should be arriving anytime soon. Annie had decided not to tell anyone her idea, besides him of course. 'It's not a bad idea' Armin thought as he sat at the table studying some papers since Eren and Mikasa had returned

Armin had noticed a decline in the income of the household, resulting in a severe lack of funds but nothing that would be a problem, yet.

Suddenly Armin was stirred from his thoughts as Annie came into the room and sat down next to him. "You called them didn't you," Armin asked as he shuffled the papers back into a pile and placed them back in their envelope.

"Of course I called them," Annie said "they should be here in the next ten minutes"

"Are you sure there will be no problems?" Armin said sitting up and leaning in closer to Annie

"I can't guarantee there won't be any problems," Annie said her head drooping slightly "but I do know this can work"

"What if the others don't think so," Armin said voicing what they both feared

"Well, I don't know what then," Annie said looking away, a little ashamed that she didn't have any more ideas past this "this is our last chance, but I know it will work"

Suddenly the door opened and Mikasa, Krista, and Sasha walked in

"Hey Annie, hey Annie," Krista said as s they entered the dining room "what's this all about?"

"Just wait for Eren to get here with Jean and Marco," Annie said gesturing for them to sit and wait. A few minutes later Eren returned with Jean and Marco in tow.

"So what is this all about," Jean asked when everyone was seated

"Well as you know your group was disbanded when hitch left," Annie said gesturing to herself, Sasha and Krista

"Ya, we know that," Eren said, "but why do we need to go over that?"

"Maybe if you'd shut up she could explain," Jean said from across the table

"Hey! Maybe you should shut up!" Eren said getting up from his seat, Jean doing likewise.

"I forgot how troublesome these two were," Armin said under his breath as Mikasa and Marco both tried to get calm down the two men.

"Well at least they are passionate," Krista said with a smile

"I think this is beyond passionate" Sasha said with a snicker "I'm just waiting for fists to start flying, my money's on Jean"

"No way," Armin said as the two began to get into each other face, Armin knew full well it wouldn't come to fists, "Eren is more likely to win he's shorter but stronger"

"Can you two give it a rest for one second?" Annie said as Eren and Jean were at each other's

throats. After a few seconds, the two sat down in their places, both still upset.

"So, you were saying" Mikasa prompted

"Like I was saying we have lost our group," Annie said taking a moment she took a long breath and continued "all of you have been helping to find a new member, but we've been looking in the wrong place"

"Where else is there to look!?" Sasha said standing halfway up "we've looked everywhere!"

"The answer has been staring us in the face," Armin said chiming in gesturing for Sasha to sit back down and for Annie to continue

'Well, this is it' Annie thought as she took a deep breath looking over she saw Armin smiling at her and in that instant time lowed to a crawl. As she stared into his light blue eyes she felt a warmth begin to build in her chest, 'right this is the right thing, I know they will agree'

"We could join together to fix the group," Annie said and as she did she looked around the room at the faces that surrounded her she couldn't read them at all, the room was completely silent.

After a moment Armin once again spoke up "we know that it is very sudden but most of you have music experience and we thought that this was the best solution"

"We don't expect an answer today," Annie said quickly "but if you do choose to join us please meet us outside Mr. Shadis's office tomorrow" and with that Armin and Annie made their way out of the apartment.

As the walked down the halls of the apartment Armin said "hopefully they agree with you"

"I hope so too," Annie said stopping she turned to face Armin, standing on her tippy toes she kissed Armin "thank you"

"For what?" Armin said his face going red

"For being there for me," Annie said as she dropped her head so Armin couldn't see he face

was red as well.

"Well… i .. I mean .. I try" Armin said his face growing a deeper shade of red

"I know," Annie said "taking Armin's hand in hers and the two continued to walk to where they had no idea.

"So what do you think?" Mikasa said as she and Eren still sat at the table. The others had taken off shortly after Armin and Annie

"Well i haven't touched an instrument in years, I don't know if I could even play anymore" Eren said looking down at his hands, true he had learned saxophone when he was younger to keep out of trouble, in fact that's where he met Levi and Petra, but he was never even that good, to begin with.

"It's just like riding a bike," Mikasa said hugging Eren's arm "besides this is to help Annie and Armin, so shouldn't you at least try?"

"Trust me I wish I could help them as much as possible" Eren said resting his head on Mikasa's

"but I don't know if this is the best way for me to do so"

"Well, what does your heart tell you?" Mikasa said sitting up so she was at eye level with Eren

"I just don't know anymore," Eren said "this is all too sudden what with the whole mom and dad problem"

"Whatever you do I'll be there with you Mikasa said kissing Eren and getting up, leaving Eren to his thoughts. ' _Can I really do this, do I even remember how to? I just don't know anymore'_

"So do you wanna talk about it?" Marco said as he and Jean got home to the small dorm on campus they called home.

"I don't know Marco, I don't like the idea of working with that stubborn ass-hat," Jean said his face scrunching as if he smelled something foul.

"Well you know you're not the most cordial person ever," Marco said with a smile "and you could smile more too"

"I'm cord… whatever you said" Jean said "he's just so stubborn, all high and mighty"

After a moment Marco finally said "you know what Jean? you're like a peanut"

"A peanut, why a peanut" Jean said more than a little confused

"Think about it like this" Marco said producing a peanut from a jar in the kitchen "a tough and

bitter exterior, but once you get past that you are a good person on the inside, come on, I know you can at least consider it"

"Fine I'll consider it, but that's it," Jean said as Marco hugged him "but I don't guarantee I'll join them o.k"

"Well I suppose that's better than nothing," Marco said resign his head on Jeans shoulder

"To the new group!" Sasha said as she Krista and Connie sat around a table in Dauper already several drinks in. Naturally, Krista Sasha had been overjoyed at the news there leader had presented them with.

"So when do you guys start?" Connie asked as he siped at his drink

"We don't know," Krista said "not everyone's sold on the idea"

"Plus we don't even know how this is all going to work out," Sasha said "or even if shadis will go along with it"

"Well, how do you think the others will swing?" Connie said not knowing the full details

"Well, when we left" Krista started "it looked like Armin and Annie were both completely on

board, Jean didn't look so enthusiastic.."

"Then again when is he ever," Sasha said as she began to laugh

"Marco will definitely try I know that much about him," Connie said

"Ya he definitely will," Sasha said "he's got a good heart"

"What about Eren and Mikasa?" Connie asked getting the conversation back on track

"I think Eren will join just to help Armin and Mikasa will follow," Krista said

"What about you two?" Connie finally asked

"Well, of course, we're in!" Sasha said, "anything to get our group back, right Krista!?"

"Whatever form it may take," Krista said as the two clicked their glasses together

"Hey, Sasha!" Mr. Blouse yelled, "don't drink so much Y'all make trouble!"

"Yes pa" Sasha called back as she began to snicker again

"Ohh your in trouble," Connie said poking Sasha making her giggle even more. Suddenly the three laughing friends were interrupted when the door opened letting in the cool breeze as well as Armin and Annie.

"No surprise you three are here," Annie said as she and Armin sat at the table with them

"Where else would we be?" Krista asked

"Ya, we just got our group back," Sasha said raising her glass "we done might as well celebrate"

"Nothing's guaranteed yet," Annie said as she grabbed a drink as well "even if everyone joins we don't know if Mr. Shadis will agree"

"Well then let's hope he does," Connie said raising his glass and with that the now five friends toasted to the group and drank until Mr. Blouse had to kick them out.

As Armin and Annie made their way home it became clear that Annie had once again had too much to drink, so Armin had to help her home.

"You really need to slow down on the drink," Armin said with a chuckle as he carried Annie through the door and set her on the couch.

"Armin?" Annie said her face pressed against the pillow "will you lay here with me, just for a little while"

After a moment Armin nodded and lay down with Annie on the couch, both mildly tipsy Annie more so than Armin, and there they laid together sleeping sound until morning when they were woken with a jolt.

"Hey lovebirds you may want to get ready to go," Eren said setting the air horn he had on the table "it's almost time to go"

"Wait where are we going," Armin said sitting up and rubbing his eyes

"We're going to go see Mr. Shadis, remember?" Mikasa said handing a cup of coffee to Armin. It took Armin a moment to comprehend what they were talking about then it suddenly all rushed back to him Annie's plan, the talk, and even the drinks "wait you guys are going to join!?" Armin said raising the significance of Eren and Mikasa being up

"Of course we are," Mikasa said

"Ya, we wouldn't abandon you tw…" Eren was cut off as Armin jumped up hugging his friends

"Thank you, thank you both!" Armin said "you have to know idea what this means"

"I think we do," Eren said hugging Armin back "but right now you need to get ready o.k." and with that Armin and Annie both got up and ready to go with the help of a couple cups of coffee. With all of them ready the four friends set off to see Mr. Shadis.

As they entered the lobby to Mr. Shadis office they saw Sasha and Krista already there waiting "hey Annie" Sasha said waving at them "man you can definitely drink, remind me that we need to do that again"

"Sure," Annie said with a smile "no Jean or Marco?"

"No, not yet," Krista said

"Well I suppose their not in then," Eren said "go figure"

"Let's just give them a couple more minutes o.k," Armin said, "I'm sure their on their way" and so the group waited for almost ten minutes at which point they decided that they weren't coming. Just as they to get up they heard running from down the hall and from around the corner they saw Marco with Jean in tow

"Sorry we're late," Marco said catching his breath "we overslept"

"That's o.k," Annie said a big grin forming on her face and tears began to form in her eyes " I'm glad you all decided to join"

"Annie, are you crying?" Sasha said as she too began to smile

"No, I'm not," Annie said her voice cracking "shut up" slowly Sasha pulled Annie into a hug, then Krista joined them and pulled Armin in with her, who pulled Eren and Mikasa, and Marco and Jean until they all stood surrounding Annie

"Just let it out," Krista said patting Annie on the back

"No, get off me you dork's," Annie said as more tears flowed down her cheeks

"That's touching and all but I do have other meetings to attend to as well, so if you don't mind," Mr. Shadis said from the now open doorway to his office. As the group filed into the office Annie noticed Armin's hand suddenly tightening around hers.

"So miss lionheart," Mr. Shadis said as he sat down "what have you brought me"

"Well" Annie began then paused looking down the row at her friend " I present to you the new small chamber orchestra"

"No" was all Mr. Shadis said

"What do you mean no" Sasha and Krista said in unison

"You can't function as a small chamber orchestra" Mr. Shadishis voice flat and with that, it seemed the room began to fade away. Annie began to protest until she realized Mr. Shadis wasn't finished speaking, "you may no longer be able to function as the small chamber orchestra, but you may continue, as something new"

"As what?" they all said all equally confused

"In the old day's it was known as humanity's elite combo," Mr. Shadis said, "does that sound pleasing to you?"

"Yes definitely," they all said once again in unison

"But I occurs to me none of you have ever played jazz, that may be a problem," Mr. Shadis said

"We are willing to learn," Annie said speaking for them all " I promise we'll give it our all"

"Good, you may enter" Mr. Shadis called out and from the side door that no one ever noticed appeared Erwin Smith, Hanji Zoë, Levi Ackerman and the rest of his band who all lined up behind Mr. Shadis "alright I hope your willing to learn because these guys don't mess around"

"We are," they all said one again

"Good from now on you will be known as the one-hundred and fourth humanity's elite combo,"

Mr. Shadis said with a smile

 **Alright so there we go, it went longer than I expected but I didn't want to break it up. I'm going to take a break until April, but thanks for reading.**

 **Fox**


	27. the new 104th chapter 1

**The new 104th chapter 1**

Armin sucked in a deep breath taking in the smell of the crisp mountain air, looking out over the trail he could see a faint line that represented the city of Trost. As he looked at the small city he remembered the dorm that had shared the same name, and how it had been set on fire, where

Jean used to live before he moved in with him and Eren.

"Hey, you frozen or something!?" Eren yelled from further up the trail "let's go this stuff is heavy!"

"Ya I'm coming," Armin said jogging to catch up with Eren's face walk "so did they say how long

we're going to stay here"

"Well Petra said to pack for a week," Eren said "but I don't think we have enough food for a week"

"Mabey Jean's parents have food stored in the house," Armin said just as they came out of the tree line and onto a small clearing that sat adjacent to the lake, across the lake Armin could see other houses that sat on the lake as well. The house itself was fairly big with a large dirt clearing and a path that lead to a small dock on the water.

"Wow this place is huge" Annie said as she and Mikasa came onto the clearing caring more bags

"It's definitely nice," Mikasa said dropping the bags on the floor "come on let's go see if anyone else has arrived"

They all dropped the bags on the ground and made their way to the back of the house where they found the back door open as they entered the saw Jean and Marco both lightly cleaning the floors and counters.

"Hey Jean, hey Marco," Armin said greeting the two men "you two need some help"

"No need," Marco said with a smile we're already done, have you seen any of the others?"

"No, not yet," Mikasa said as she looked around the large dining room that leads out onto a porch via the backdoor, parallel the back door there was a large kitchen and to the left of the kitchen there was a set of stairs that lead up to the second floor.

"You wanna tour before the others get here?" Marco said as Jean got back to cleaning

"Sure," Armin said, "what about you?" Armin asked the others

"No I think well help Jean," Mikasa said as Eren nodded

"Alright lead the way Marco," Annie said as she and Armin followed Marco

To the left of the stairs there was the front door that leads out to a dirt pathway that went all the way up to the dock, to the left of the door there was a hallway that leads to three rooms that had windows that looked out at the backyard, the rooms were lightly furnished but still managed to feel cozy. Up the stairs there was a small living room with a few armchairs and a low coffee table, to the right of the stairs there was a hallway that leads to the two biggest rooms, on the left were two smaller rooms and the only bathroom in the house.

Suddenly they heard a loud thump from the bottom floor "what the hell was that" Annie said voicing all their thoughts quickly they ran down the stairs and out to the backyard where they found the source of the sound.

"What happened?" Marco asked when they saw Eren and Jean on the floor next to an old wooden picnic table

"I sliced my hand my damn hand open," Eren said holding up his hand which was now almost completely covered in blood, at this Armin's face went pale and he almost stumbled away

"Ya, and he dropped the table on my foot!" Jean said angrily

"Alright let's get you two bandaged up," Mikasa said as she and Marco helped Jean up while

Eren raped his hand in the folds of his shirt. As they walked back into the house Annie saw Armin crouched on the edge of the forest opposite the door.

"You alright?" Annie said crouching down beside him "you look in worse condition than those two"

"Ya I'll be fine I just need a walk," Armin said slowly standing up

"Alright come on let's take a walk," Annie said as she stood up as well

"So what do you think of all this," Armin said gesturing around them, as they walked around the house towards the dock.

"Well it is pretty here," Annie said as she looked around

"Not what I meant," Armin said "but yes it is definitely pretty"

"Oh, and what did you mean?" Annie asked as they made their way on to the dock

"Well…" Armin said getting a little-flustered being on the spot "you know"

"I know what?" Annie said as she and Armin sat side by side on the edge of the dock their feet hanging off over the water

"This whole jazz combo," Armin said as he stared out at the lake

"What? Getting second thoughts" Annie said nudging Armin lightly in the ribs more to get his attention

"No not at all" Armin said "I'm looking forward to it...it's just"

"Just what," Annie said tilting her head to the side

"Well you know this isn't going to be easy," Armin said instantly feeling dumb the second the words escaped his mouth 'of course she knows it's not easy'

"Well, I think we all knew that," Annie said a sad smile crossing her face "but none of us would be here if we weren't prepared for it, right?"

"Ya I guess you're right," Armin said nodding his head slowly

"Alright now let's go see if they're done playing doctor," Annie said as she and Armin made their way back to the house. For the next hour or so they continued to clean the house and the dock, they swept up the pine needles, set the tables, cleaned the barbecue and cut a load of wood from the store in the shed. Due to their location on the mountain, all cell phones were practically useless and that went for most power as well the house had a low capacity generator, which was on mostly for some lights and the utilities.

"Alright so what's next," Eren asked wiping the sweat from his four head

"Well we still need to clean the tables, wash down the dock and set the beds," Jean said looking at the list of the chores he had

"Alright we're almost done," Marco said patting Jean and Eren both on the shoulder "and it's barely two o' clock"

"So late already," Mikasa said looking up at the sun "what are we going to do for dinner?"

"Well I was thinking we could send someone to Krolva," Jean said rubbing the back of his head. Krolva was one of the smaller towns in the area, not as big as Trost but it would do.

"Alright who do we send?" Armin said

"Well it's probably best to send more than one person just in case," Marco said "never know what could happen"

"Alright," Jean said Marco and me should go to Krolva, Armin, Annie fix the room, and Eren, Mikasa clean the tables and the dock"

"How are you going to walk all the way to Krolva with your foot messed up?" Eren said

"An excellent point," Marco said, "how about this, why don't you help Mikasa wash down the dock and the table Eren you can help me fix the rooms and Armin and Annie…"

"Wait a minute we don't even know how to get to Krolva," Armin said already knowing exactly where Marco was going.

"Don't worry it'll be a piece of cake" Marco said a grin forming on his face "you can handle this right, Annie?"

"Ya no problem" Annie said "I'm sure we could figure it out"

"Alright then let's finish up," Marco said "Annie, Armin follow me I'll get you the money and the shopping list"

As everyone dispersed to do their jobs Marco ran into the house gathering a piece of paper and some money, handing it to Annie she said: "so what are we looking for when we get there?"

"You'll know it when you see it it's a little market called Nedlay," Marco said pointing towards the road that went further up the mountain

"Can I just ask one question?" Armin said, "why don't we just drive to Krolva?"

"Because you to do that you would have to go back down the mountain and catch the highway almost completely around the mountain," Marco said "so instead your gonna walk further up and catch the train to Krolva, like a ten-minute ride"

"Alright," Armin said nodding his head "makes sense, we'll be back in a half hour or so"

"Right good luck," Marco said as they began to walk towards the road "and remember stick to the list"

And so they set off down the road, they walked for almost a quarter of a mile until they saw the train station in the distance. "There it is maybe another quarter mile," Annie said pointing to the small building in the distance

"Great" Armin said wiping the sweat from his head exhausted

"Are you gonna make it?" Annie said a smile passing over her face

"Ya I'll make it," Armin said "now let's get back to it" and so they did they walked the next quarter mile to the train where they got two round-trip tickets to Krolva. Like Marco had said the train didn't take more than ten minutes but it was a much-needed break for Armin who was sweating profusely.

"Alright we've got a half hour till the train heads back down," Armin said as he and Annie sat down on one of the benches at the train station "have you found Nedlay?"

"It's just down that way," Annie said pointing down the main street

"Alright then let's go get what we need and go back," Armin said offering Annie a hand up

"Ya let's hurry up before the train decides to leave us here," Annie said taking his hand.

"what is all this for," Annie said looking down at the list "it looks like random ingredients, rice, chicken, bell pepper, brown sugar?"

"Let me see," Armin said as Annie handed him the list "oh I know what this is"

"Well, what is it then?" Annie said looking at the list over Armin's shoulder

"It's chicken stir-fry!" Armin said smiling "have you never had it?"

All Annie could do was nod she was smart ya but she knew jack shit about cooking

Seeing this Armin only smiled more and began to laugh and said "don't worry it's delicious"

And so they gathered the rest of the ingredients and began the trip back down the mountain conveniently all of the ingredients fit in only three bags. As they sat on the bench, waiting for the train which was delayed, Armin said: "you want a drink?"

"Sure, water please," Annie said as Armin got up and made his way to the other side of the train station where the vending machine stood. ' _I wonder if Sasha and Krista are here yet?'_ Annie thought as she stared at the train tracks

' _I wonder if we'll be able to really play together? Eren and Jean could be a problem'_ she told herself

Abruptly she was pulled from her thoughts as Armin sat back down and offered her the bottle of water she had asked for "thank you" she muttered still staring at the tracks

"Is something wrong?" Armin said his head tilting to the right just slightly

"It's nothing Annie said with an unconvincing smile

"Really nothing?" Armin said unconvinced "come on what's wrong"

With a heavy sigh, Annie told him about the Eren and Jean problem and how she thought it could get worse. For a moment Armin was silent obviously in deep thought and then he said

"well I don't think either of them will give you much trouble"

"Why not?" Annie said confused as to how he reached such a conclusion

"Well first off they both have someone keeping them in line," Armin said

"Mikasa and Marco" Annie answered

"And second they both don't want to make trouble, they're just really hot-headed, that's all," Armin said "your real trouble will be Levi's group"

"Why would I have problems with Levi's group?" Annie askes

"From what I know they are one of the best in the region and that kind of reputation does not come lightly," Armin said

"So what if their good?" Annie said still confused

"It means training will more than likely be brutal," Armin said

"I'm sure we're more than a match," Annie said getting up and gathering the bags and started off to where the train was pulling in

"I wish I had your optimism" Armin muttered as got on the train and began the trip back down the mountain. The walk back to the house was far worse this time because of the bags, by the time they finally made it back to the house around two-thirty, Armin was more than exhaust, luckily there was no more work to be done.

"How did it go?" Eren said as Armin and Annie entered the kitchen with the bag's

"Fine" Annie said, "I think we got everything"

"Good" Marco said looking through the bags to make sure that everything was there "Armin could you give me a hand?"

"Sure," Armin said as he rolled up his sleeves

"The rest of you can relax until we finish," Marco said to all the others that were present in the kitchen. So as Armin and Marco made the stir-fry, Eren, Jean, Mikasa, and Annie all went to sit outside on the picnic tables.

"So what are we going to do for food for the rest of the week?" Mikasa asked no one in particular

"We could always send someone back to Krolva," Annie said "just make sure they have enough money"

"No need," Jean said "from what I know Sasha should be bringing the food that we'll have for the week"

"Well it's kinda a problem if she's not here," Eren said

"Don't worry?" Mikasa said "she'll be here, I talked to her before we left, she sounded so excited"

There was a moment of silence, it was at this moment Annie could hear a scraping, like feet on gravel.

"You hear it too?" Mikasa said to Annie. Without a word, they both got up and began down the path. As they made their way down the path towards the base of the mountain the scraping grue louder, when they finally rounded a bend in the road they came face to face with Sasha.

"Sasha!?" Mikasa called out "how long have you been here?"

"Mikasa, Annie" Sasha exclaimed throwing herself at the two women standing before her "how long have you been here"

"We've been here all morning, what you got there?" Mikasa said gesturing towards the big blue box Sasha had been hauling up the mountain.

"Oh that, it's all the food and like three pounds of ice," Sasha said

"You fit a week's worth of food in one icebox?" Annie said as he inspected the box

"No don't be silly there are two more with Krista and the car," Sasha said, "I don't suppose you could help me with these?"

And so began the lengthy process of caring the ice boxes up the mountain, Mikasa and Annie doing the bulk of the work, even after they returned to the top with one box, Sasha, and Krista in tow there still wasn't much help as Eren and Jean were in no condition to be moving up and down the mountain nor carry anything. As Mikasa and Annie returned to the base for the last icebox, they were greeted with the sight of Levi and the rest of his group calling up all of their stuff and then some.

"Oh good, then everyone's here!" Erwin said when all the things had been brought up and dumped in the dining room "so how's sleeping where and what's for dinner?"

Luckily the food was finished shortly after and they all sat down to discuss the rooms. There were seven rooms and fifteen of them. It was determined that two people could fit in one room fine but three was too much so one person would have to stay on the couch in the living room.

"So who's going to sleep on the couch?" Jean said when all this was known

"I and Petra are gonna take one of the rooms," Levi said, no one dared to question him

"could me and Sasha could take one of the other rooms," Krista said

"Sure," Jean said "that leaves five more rooms"

"Gunther, Eld? could you two share a room?" Erwin said

Gunther nodded and returned to the card game he, Eld and Hanji were playing

"Oluo and you could take another room," Levi said to Erwin to which everyone nodded agreement

"Armin, Annie do you two wanna take the next room," Jean said

"Sure Armin said glad he wouldn't have to sleep on the couch

"Hanji would you like the room?" Mikasa said shocking everyone

"I would love it.." Hanji began

"Now wait a minute!" Eren exclaimed half getting up. Suddenly Eren realized his fault when he saw Hanji smiling deviously "sorry continue" and so he sat back down his ears red

"Oh Mr. Yeager you are to barsh," Hanji said with a wiley grin "but I think the room is more suited for you and miss Ackerman, I'll make myself comfortable on the couch"

"Right, thank you," Eren said a little embarrassed

"So if that's all I think it best you all get to sleep," Erwin said as he looked at the clock "be ready, we begin training first thing in the morning"

 **Alright thanks for reading, this is where we're gonna stay for a while.**

 **fox**


	28. new 104th chapter 2

**New 104th chapter 2**

" _oh Armin we shouldn't someone will hear us!"_

" _Don't worry everyone's asleep" Armin said a smirk crossing his face as he kissed Annie's neck and began to move lower pulling at her shirt_

" _Wait," Annie said "you lay down" as he did Annie moved her way down to his pants_

 _ **BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!**_

Suddenly Armin was pulled from his dream by the sound of the alarm. Glancing over at the clock it read seven o'clock. Hitting the snooze button he sat up, Annie was still asleep next to him staring slightly.

He and Annie were given the biggest of the bottom floor rooms, Eren and Mikasa were in the next, and Jean and Marco in the last. Krista and Sasha were sharing a room on the second floor, along with Levi and Petra in one, Eld and Gunther in another, Oluo and Erwin in the last and Hanji sleeping on the upstairs living room couch.

 _'better let her sleep a little longer'_ Armin thought as he got up slowly, changing into his clothes, he walked to the kitchen to see if anyone else was up yet.

As he entered the kitchen he saw that Erwin and Hanji were already up. They were both sitting at the table the smell of coffee strong in the air.

"Good morning Mr. Smith, Mrs. Zoe" Armin said greeting the two older students

"Please, It's Erwin," he said with a smile "there's no need for…."

"Mrs. Zoe!?, Mrs. Hanji Zoe!, yes I like the sound of that" Hanji said a large smile creeping across her face. "Yes, Mrs. Zoe doesn't it sound perfect!?"

Erwin let out a heavy sigh "great now she'll never stop saying it" he said

As Armin made himself a cup of tea Marco and Jean came down the hallway as well.

Surprisingly Marco was already bright eyed and bushy tailed, Jean, however, was another story.

"I take it your not a morning person are you Mr. Kirstien," Erwin said as Jean sat down with his own cup of coffee.

For a moment Jean said nothing as he took a long drink of his coffee. As the atmosphere grew awkward Jean finally said "no, I'm not a morning person Mr. Smith"

When Armin finished his cup of tea he and Marco began working on breakfast, they decided to make pancakes eggs and ham. They spent close to an hour making breakfast for everyone. By eight o'clock mostly everyone was up except for Annie, Gunther, and Eld.

"Armin will you go wake up Annie so we can start the day?" Erwin said "Oluo go wake up Gunther and Eld"

"What!?" Oluo shouted out "why do I need to be responsible for them? Their grown up's can't they wak….."

And just like that, there was once again blood spilling out of Oluo's mouth

"Damn it! Oluo, what did I tell you about talking so much!?" Perta said getting up "come on idiot let's go get you fixed up, Levi go wake up Gunther and Eld" and with that Petra and Oluo went upstairs to get him fixed up, Levi Followed shortly after to go wake up Gunther and Eld.

Making his way down the hallway Armin was sure he could hear Oluo screaming from upstairs, opening the door slowly Armin saw Annie still sleeping peacefully. "Hey Annie," Armin said nudging her softly "hey Annie wake up" the only response was a quiet grunt

"come on Annie, everyone's waiting on you" Nudging her a little harder this time Armin said

"Annie get up" suddenly Annie's arm shot out catching Armin by the rist. "Wow Annie wait a minute!" but it was too late Armin was already unbalanced. In an instant, Armin was laying on his back on the bed and Annie was on top of him her elbow centimeters from his neck. Armin could tell she did not sleep well, her hair was a mess and her eyes were bloodshot.

"Wait, Annie!" Armin said panicked

Slowly Annie's shoulders relaxed and she lowered her arm letting out a heavy sigh Annie, still on top of Armin, looked around the room almost as if she had no clue where she was.

"Annie?" Armin said a little scared she would still be upset

Looking down it clicked where she was and in an instant, her face began turning shades of red that didn't seem possible "Armin" she said "what time is it"

"Around eight," Armin said with a small smile "you've been asleep for awhile, everyone's waiting on you for breakfast"

"Is everyone already up?" Annie said glancing in the direction of the door

"Just about," Armin said as he squirmed a bit under Annie's weight "it's probably time you got up from what Erwin was telling me we have a long day ahead of us"

For a moment Annie looked at the door again "there's no rush" she said her face going red again. Adjusting herself, she now was laying next to Armin her head resting on his shoulder

"You didn't sleep well?" Armin said rubbing her back as they lay there on the bed

"No, I just couldn't fall asleep" Annie said yawning "I don't know why"

"Nervous?" Armin said as he adjusted himself

"What's there to be nervous about?" Annie said sitting up a little

"Well starting everything from scratch can't be easy," Armin said

For a moment Annie considered it ' _no that's not it, I can deal with starting from scratch. But if that's not it then what is?'_ she thought "no, I've made my peace with starting over" Annie said giving Armin a sad smile

"Well, then what is it?" Armin asked

"I'm not quite sure, but I know I'll figure it out," Annie said "we can't be getting up this late all week can we"

"Well I.. I mean we could," Armin said almost not saying it at all

"What do you mean by that?" Annie said a smirk crossing her face as she returned to sitting on Armin

"Well, you know…" Armin said now a little embarrassed

"And what is it I'm supposed to know?" Annie said leaning in close to Armin so that their faces were mere inches of each other

In a brief moment of passion and bravery Armin, catching Annie off guard, leaned up and planted a kiss on her lips. For a moment and only a moment, neither of them moved, both slightly shocked by Armin's actions. Then passion took over and that simple kiss on the lips grew beeper until both of them had to pull away for air.

"I love you, Annie," Armin said kissing her again, his face turning red once again, this time little less than a peck

"I love you too," Annie said her blush deepening.

"Umm should I give you two a moment"

Turning quickly to the door Armin and Annie saw Mikasa standing in the doorway a taunting grin on her face. Quickly she turned away and went to the kitchen where everyone was still waiting.

"That's probably a sign that we should get up," Armin said after a moment more of being embarrassed.

With a heavy sigh Annie nodded got up and Armin left the room, to let her change into her regular clothes. As he entered the kitchen he saw that everyone was up and waiting.

"What took so long?" Jean said looking irritated and hungry

Dumbfounded Armin caught Mikasa's stare, she said nothing only smiled and nodded. ' _Wait she didn't tell them, oh thank the gods for you Mikasa'_ Armin thought smiling to himself.

Realising that he still had not answered Armin said: "ya Annie didn't sleep well, it took a little longer for her to get up than usual."

"Well is she up then!?" Sasha said as she looked to be having a meltdown without the food

"Ya I'm up," Annie said coming out of the hallway

"Alright then well have breakfast and start the day," Erwin said as he got up and everyone

began to serve their plates.

As Armin grabbed a pancake Mikasa leaned in close to him and whispered "you owe me for this"

Armin knew better than to question Mikasa so he only nodded to scared to respond properly. After everyone had finished breakfast and had ten minutes to sit to let their food settle Levi stood up and said: "Alright let's get started then, Jean you said there was a barn around here?"

"Ya it's right over there, but it's pretty beat up," Jean said pointing towards the outside opposite the lake

"Alright then let's see what we're working with," Levi said giving everyone signal that it was time to get up and get to work

As they approached the barn Armin could tell Jean wasn't exaggerating when he said it was beaten up. The gutters were falling off, the paint was almost non-existent, and the doors were off their hinges.

"Great hell!" Gunther exclaimed

"You wanna work here caption?" Eld asked J

"You're off your rocker if you think I'll set foot in there," Oluo said

Now, wait a min…." Erwin began to say before being cut off

"This is completely unacceptable and completely unorthodox!" Oluo said moving to stand beside Levi "if these are the conditi…."

And just like that Oluo was on the floor "that's enough Oluo, or your tongue won't be the only thing bleeding today" Petra said a dark scoule on her face "if the captain says this is where we practice then that's an order" at that Eld and Gunther were silent.

Armin watched in awe, Eren leaned in close and said "ya that's Petra for you she's nice to everyone, but get on her bad side and she'll drop you real quick"

"Good to note," Armin said casting a glance at the others would all seemed to be in awe as well and in some cases fear.

Opening the doors to the barnLeviand the rest entered. Levi Inspected much of the barn and after a moment said "get some broom's, towels and soap, this place must be sparkling before we can even get started"

No one moved a muscle until Erwin said "alright you heard him let's get started"

 **Alright thanks for reading, I hope you like the direction this is going and please let me know what you think**

 **Fox**


	29. the new 104th chapter 3

**New 104th chapter 3**

"Alright we're done," Jean said sitting down next to the others. All the members of the 104th had

been tasked with cleaning a barn while Levi and the rest started working on the instruments in the house.

"Should someone go tell Levi?" Armin said looking down the row

"Not it!" Sasha yelled out quickly "I think Eren should do it"

"What why me!?" Eren said "I don't wanna do it"

"I agree with Sasha," Jean said "make Eren do it"

"Why don't you do it," Eren said getting in Jean's face

"Eren!" Mikasa plead "not now"

"Ya Jean settle down," Marco said standing up and pulling Jean away

Groaning Annie got up and said "well if you two have enough energy to fight then you have enough energy to both go tell Levi that we're done, everyone else, take a break"

"How put you in charge!?" Eren blurted

'Bad move Eren' Armin thought he knew there was no point in trying to stop Eren from fighting, it was in his nature

"You wanna challenge me Eren?" Annie said coldly

"What if I do!?" Eren spat back obviously not thinking his actions out to well

Annie didn't respond she only fell into a fighting stance with her fist at eye level and feet spread shoulder with apart, almost goating Eren to try it.

Moving over Armin sat by Mikasa who at this point knew as well how futile it was to try and stop Eren. "So do we want to send someone while these two fight it out?"

"Na, let's just see how this pans out," Sasha said

"Might as well?" Mikasa said with a heavy sigh

Eren was the first to go for a strike, quickly he jabbed at Annie's stomach. With lightning speed, Annie both blocked his attack and simultaneously kicked Eren in the knee with enough force to send him forward to the ground.

"Had enough?" Annie said lowing her defense as Eren got back up

"You just got lucky!" Eren said going for another strike this time directed at Annie's head

Moving to the side Annie grabbed Eren by the hem of his shirt and sweep her leg at his knees dropping him backward on his back.

"Alright that's enough Annie," Mikasa said getting up "he's had enough"

Shrugging Annie let Eren up "anyone else?" Annie said looking around at the others, all were silent "alright Jean go get Levi"

Without a word Jean set off back to the house

"Well fought boss," Sasha said patting Annie on the back

"Hey, Annie?" Eren said as he sat back against the wall "How did you do that"

"Do what?" Annie said as she to sat against the wall

"That sweep," Eren said

"It's all gravity, and a little push," Annie said

"Well at least they're getting along," Mikasa said as Jean returned with Levi and Petra.

Levi looked around the barn for a while running his hand along most of the surfaces. Meanwhile, Petra sat down with the others.

"What happened to you?" Petra asked as she examined the scuffs on Eren's face and arms

"He tried to fight the boss, and failed!" Sasha said excitedly

Taking a moment Petra looked from Eren to Annie then finally said "the boss hm, well I suppose it suits you, just make sure you don't let the power get to her head Armin"

"R.. right," Armin said 'what do you expect me to do?'

"Well caption, is it good enough?" Petra said as Levi returned from his inspection

"It's a half-assed job," Levi said staring down at the younger musicians "but it will do, Petra go get the others, the rest of you go and get the instruments, it's time for your first lesson"

Quickly everyone gathered in the barn with all the instruments

"Alright," Levi said addressing Annie "you're in charge do you know what that means?"

"It means I take lead," Annie said confidently

"Yes and no" Levi said "your purpose is to maintain the order in the band, yes you're in charge but you don't lead them in the piece"

"So who does?" Armin asked

"That will fall to your lead," Petra said "for us that's me"

"Petra is the one who controls the tempo and direction of the band where she goes we follow," Levi said

"And if you notice you don't use sheet music," Erwin said "you move by feel and memory, at most you have chords but that's about it"

"Ok, so who's our lead?" Jean said, "does it have to be our vocalist?"

"No it doesn't have to be your vocalist, but more commonly it is," Levi said "for now you won't have a lead until we determine how you play together"

"For now you will separate into your individual instruments," Erwin said "Armin with Eld, Annie with Hanji, Eren and Krista with Levi, Sasha and Jean with Oluo and, Marco with Gunther" and so they all separated each going with their respective teachers.

As Annie and Hanji moved to the porch a thought suddenly struck her 'Hanji isn't part of Levi's group'

"So Annie you play violin right," Hanji said leaning on the railing of the porch "how long have you been playing"

"At least a decade," Annie said "I didn't get formal teaching until I got to middle school"

"Who was your first teacher?" Hanji asked

"My mother," Annie said

"Hm, and you only know violin?" Hanji asked

"Yes," Annie said not sure where this was going

"Alright, I'm sorry to tell you but your violin will have no use here," Hanji said genuine regret in

her voice "may I see your violin?"

Slowly Annie handed Hanji her violin practically shocked.

Examining the ivory violin Hanji noted the obvious age 'wow this must be at least a good twenty years old'

"Annie I want you to continue playing this instrument," Hanji said handing the instrument back to her. "But for now I will teach you how to play this" removing a tarp Annie say a large double bass "alright Annie do you know what this is?"

"It's a double bass," Annie said "it's like a larger violin"

"Kind of, unlike the violin you won't be using the bow very often" Hanji said picking up the large instrument "you strum at it with one hand and make the chord with the other, like so, your main job is to keep the tempo going" Hanji strummed at the springs producing a low chord "give it a try"

Taking the bass Annie began forming the chords and strumming the strings "Hanji, your not part of Levi's group are you?"

"No I'm a substitute member of Levi's elite combo," Hanji said as she watched Annie go through the chords chromatically "so I am usually the scout"

"Scout?" Annie said stopping briefly

"Keep going your doing good," Hanji said edging her back to the chords "the scout is the one who looks for jobs for the band, you will need to decide who among you will fill that position, the need to have a lot of connections and a fast talker"

Armin looked over at the porch where Annie stood with Hanji and the large double bass he sat with Eld at the piano watching his hand's crawl along the keys

"You don't play the melody," Eld said not looking up from the piano "you support the band with the chords, take over"

Quickly switching places without missing so much as a beat Armin was now at the piano playing the chords that Eld had, and Eld was sitting where Armin had been

"Move to the minor" Eld commanded. Confused Armin stopped not sure what he meant "quickly move to the relative minor!"

When Armin couldn't do that Eld stopped him tubing the bump above his nose he said: "what playing experience do you have?"

"My grandfather taught me and I played in a few recitals," Armin said quickly not wanting to upset the older man any more than necessary.

"Have you ever played jazz?" Eld asked an almost pleading tone in his voice

Thinking back Armin could remember playing a lot of classical and romantic era prices, but no jazz "no I can't say that I have" Armin said

"Ok," Eld said pausing to think for a moment "in jazz you need to think about where your likely to go, makes sense"

"Kind of," Armin said

"So if you're in C major what is your relative minor?" Eld asked

Taking a moment Armin finally said "a minor!"

"Right, now you need to be able to think of that faster" Eld said

"Why?" Armin asked looking down at the piano

"That's because you don't know exactly where your lead will go," Eld said "and you need to be there to support them"

From the dock's Mikasa could hear the bombastic sound of brasses who were somewhere on the side of the house. Mikasa was sitting on the dock listening to Petra talk about her role.

"You are the cover of the band," Petra said, "you are the first thing most people will see and here so you need to be able to hold strong, can you do that?"

"Of course," Mikasa said 'that's a dumb question'

"Prove it," Petra said a tease in her voice "sing"

"What do you want me to sing?" Mikasa urged

"Whatever comes to mind," Petra said with a smile

 _Hold me close and hold me fast_

 _This magic spell you cast_

 _This is la vie en rose_

 _When you kiss me, heaven sighs_

 _And though I close my eyes_

 _I see la vie en rose_

 _When you press me to your heart_

 _I'm in a world apart_

 _A world where roses bloom…._

"Armstrong?" Petra said stopping Mikasa "a nice choice"

"Thank you, I remember Grisha always listened to Armstrong when he worked in his office," Mikasa said

"You have such a lovely voice, nice and deep," Petra said with a smile "it will help you but you need to be louder"

"Louder?" Mikasa repeated

"Won't I have a microphone?" Mikasa asked confused

"Not always, and you're at a severe disadvantage" unlike the others your instrument cannot be fixed by a repairman, so you will need to take extra special care of your voice, ok"

"Ok," Mikasa said

"Alright," Petra said with a grin "then let's hear what else you can sing"

"Pay attention Yeager!" Levi snapped as Eren turned slightly to the dock to see Mikasa and Petra. Eren, Krista, and Levi were on the front porch of the house. They each had their instruments on their laps, Eren and Levi with alto saxes and Krista with a smaller soprano sax

"Why I already suffered lessons from you before" Eren snapped back

"Ya but not like this, you haven't," Levi said letting out a heavy sigh as his gaze too wandered to where Mikasa and Petra sat. "you've never played jazz before, and it's different to the old show tunes I used to teach you"

"How so?" Eren asked taking the moment to get out of practice

"First off you're not playing by yourself," Levi said

"Well obviously," Eren said earning himself a smack on the back of the head "oww what the hell!"

"Will you two please not fight!?" Krista exclaimed as Eren crumpled in response to the pain in the back of his head

Ignoring Eren's crying Levi continued "your job now will be to create the "volume" you, and a little bit of Jean will be the ones who will create the size of the band, Krista, however, your job is different"

"Ok, what is my job?" Krista asked enthusiastically

"Well normally your part would be filled by something more along the lines of a clarinet, but you have a soprano sax, so your job is to provide a bit of a lift for Mikasa and add texture, your biggest problem will be being loud enough, unlike Eren who will need to try to be quiet enough"

"Why's that" Eren and Krista asked

"Eren could easily overpower the entire combo, and Krista you will have a little trouble being loud enough amongst all these bigger instruments," Levi said "so Eren, back off and Krista come out a little"

Sasha began to snicker as she heard the sound of Eren getting hit from the other side of the house.

"Something funny potato girl!?" Oluo said glaring at her

"Nothing at all" Sasha said straightening out.

"Alright then as I was saying….." Oluo said getting back to his long-winded speech about how the brass was the heart of the band. All Sasha and Jean could do was sit there and finger at their instruments. Jean had a shiny silver trumpet and Sasha had a dull brass trombone

' _Gods it's been awful long since I done picked up a trombone' Sasha thought 'let's see where it middle school?, ya it must because I done changed ta tuba around high school'_

From the direction of the house, Erwin walked over and said "that's enough lecture Oluo"

"But I was just getting into the most important part," Oluo said dumbfounded

"Oh don't worry there's always time tomorrow," Erwin said winking at Jean and Sasha "so let's see how good they are, play a little something for me"

They began slowly in quarters and eighths but no sooner then they started they quickly moved into fast sixteens and slow thirty seconds while still maintaining a large full sound

Stopping them Erwin said "ya, that's great you two will do just fine, just watch you don't burn yourselves out to fast"

Walking into the house Erwin saw Gunther and Marco going at it Marco was on the drum set and Gunther was watching stopping him every few minutes to point out mistakes and suggestions

"How's he doing" Erwin yelled over the sound of the loud drums

"He's doing real good," Gunther said an unusual smile coming across his face

"good, then let's wrap it up and reconvene in the barn" Erwin shouted back

Going around to the other sections Erwin repeated the order and in a few minutes, everyone was back in the barn waiting. Standing in front of them Erwin said "from the sounds of things you are all doing really good, so I think it's only fair that we don't work you too hard, so please take the rest of the day off, enjoy the lake"

After a brief moment of cheer, Erwin said "Levi I will want to have a discussion with your group before today's out so we can go over tomorrow's schedule, besides that the rest of the day is yours"

With that everyone disbursed and so ended the first day of official training.

 **Alright thanks for reading. Just a general disclaimer i don't play all these instruments so writing about them is a little challenging. Anyway let me know what you think**

 **fox**


	30. the new 104th chapter 4

**The new 104th chapter 4**

"Alright that's it for today," Erwin said smiling at the younger musician as they all reconvened

"we won't have rehearsal tomorrow though"

"Why not?" Annie asked

"We need to head to Trost," Petra said gesturing towards Levi and the rest of the combo "we need to get something that will help you, but it will take a while to get it back up here, so we decided you could use the day off"

"Alright!" Sasha said excitedly "we can finally sleep in"

"It's about time," Jean said stretching his arms above his head "we definitely need a break"

"Well we are here to learn," Armin said smiling as they all walked back to the house

"Ya well we need a break every now and again," Jean said turning to Armin "besides this will probably be the only day we get to relax"

"That's true," Mikasa said although they had been staying at the lake house for four days, this would be the first they got to relax. Usually, they were practicing well into the dusk.

"Well I still think we should do something productive," Armin said as they all sat down on the chairs on the back porch

"Like what?" Eren asked as he grabbed a couple of sodas from the cooler that was by the door

"Well, I don't know.." Armin said trailing off "I thought maybe you had some ideas"

"We could clean up a little" Marco chimed in

"And we could make a big breakfast" Sasha said "you know before the others take off

"Ya, we could do that" Mikasa said, "well need to send someone back to Krolva, to get what we need, who wants to go?"

"I think me and Sasha could make it" Krista spoke up as she looked up meekly from her soda

"Alright," Mikasa said taking the lead "Marco, Jean can you go with them too, just in case"

"Right, you can count on us," Marco said.

Maroc, Jean, Krista, and Sasha then followed Mikasa and Eren to the kitchen to see what they needed leaving Armin and Annie sitting out on the porch.

"Something productive?" Annie hummed as she sat down next to Armin on one of the benches that lay against the railing.

"Well I mean we're gonna have all day to do nothing," Armin said smiling at the thought of having some time to relax

"Well that can't keep them occupied all day," Annie said taking a long drag of her soda

"Well I mean they deserve a bit of a break," Armin said "they have been working hard"

"That's true…" Annie said pausing to think

"Have you thought about who's going to be your lead?" Armin asked glancing at Annie with a smile

Sighing Annie leaned against Armin's shoulder she said "not yet, maybe Mikasa, Jean, Eren…. You"

Adjusting himself Armin now had his back against the railing and Annie curled up against his chest "well let's think about this logically?"

"Oh no," Annie said sitting up slightly "not another pros and cons list"

"Well I mean if it works," Armin said knowing full well how much Annie disliked the lengthy process

"o.k pro-Mikasa is a good singer," Annie said

"Con, she isn't very good at expressing herself or her ideas to others," Armin said "pro, she is good at being a leader"

"Con, she does anything Eren says," Annie said

"O.k what about Eren?" Armin said "pro, he's got plenty of playing experience"

"Con, he's only ever played solo," Annie said "pro, he good at bringing people to his cause"

"Con, there's no way Jean will follow him at all," Armin said "con, he's really short-tempered"

Their conversation was cut off when the sliding glass door opened and out walked Jean, Marco, Krista, and Sasha.

"Are you going already?" Armin said setting up a little

"Ya" well be back in like an hour," Marco said

"So don't get too comfortable," Sasha said snickering. Smirking Annie sat up and in an instantly Sasha was halfway down the stairs saying "sorry boss I didn't mean it"

Walking down the stairs to Sasha Annie said "I know you didn't, now get going"

Quickly they departed leaving Annie and Armin alone once again. "Well it looks like you've got a firm grip, boss," Armin said chuckling

The rest of the day went off without a hitch and everyone was a home when they all sat down for a late dinner of rice and curry after which everyone went their separate ways till bed.

As the first light of day showed, Armin got up to see Annie was already up, her hair a mess and a book in hand.

"What are you writing?" Armin said as he slowly sat up

"Nothing!" Annie said clutching the notebook to her chest "it's nothing, don't worry about it"

"Come on let me see," Armin said now more interested as he scotched closer to her

With one hand still holding the book, Annie tried to push Armin away but she was at the disadvantage being tired and having only one hand to hold him back. quickly she moved the book to the inside of her shirt and grabbed at Armin's outstretched arm. In an instant she had him pinned by the arm as she sat up on top of him.

"I win," Annie said a little out of breath from the struggle "you give up yet?"

"Not by a long shot," Armin said as he used all his strength to flip them both over, which was no light task, Now Armin was on top struggling to pin Annie's arms down. Quickly Armin leaned down close to Annie and kissed her, a deep and heavy kiss. In an instant she stopped struggling, it was in that instant that Armin reached under her thin shirt and pulled out the notebook she had been defending. Annie quick as always recovered from the shock of the sudden kiss and her hand once again shot out for the notebook, but to no avail, as Armin had her hands in one of his, using his other hand Armin thumbed through the pages of the notebook until he got to the page he was looking for.

As Armin stared down at the notebook that lay on top of a squirming Annie, he smiled and said

"a pros and cons list?"

"It's just a dumb list," Annie said "I didn't write it because of you"

"Sure," Armin said sarcastically as he let go of her hands and leaned in close to kiss her "I'm glad you're trying"

"Shut up," Annie said her face going red as she looked away

Having had their fun, Armin and Annie got up and ready for the day it was ten o'clock by the time Levi and the rest of his group were finally out the door and down the road.

"Alright let's clean up a little so we can have the rest of the day to relax," Eren said as everyone began working. There was plenty to do, trash to be taken down the road, the floors had to be swept, all the beds were made, the dishes were washed and the countries were wiped.

By one o'clock Annie finished inspecting the house and damned it 'good enough' at this everyone rejoiced and Armin and Marco began working on lunch, which consisted of some breaded chicken, rice, and greens.

As they all sat down to have lunch Sasha said with a full mouth "Hey Jean, you know how big the lake is?"

"I don't know maybe a good mile from shore to shore" Jean sais after thinking for a moment "on the southern side is where the river connects"

"Isn't there a guy on the other side of the lake who rents canoes?" Marco asked

"Canoes!?" Sasha said taking a moment from her food "can we go out on the lake on canoes!?, please?"

"I don't know about that" Mikasa said apprehensively

"What's the matter," Eren asked "I know you're not afraid of a little water"

"No I agreed with Mikasa," Krista said "I don't want to drown"

"Don't worry you won't down?" Armin said smiling at her trying to reassure her

"If...if you say so," Krista said

"Alright let's go after lunch," Sasha said raising her boul up in a toast

After they all finished lunch they gathered a small pack with a few essentials, some snacks, a couple of towels, and some swimming clothes.

Jean, Marco, Krista, Sasha, Annie, and Armin began their journey around the lake, they were just about ready to go when Mikasa came out of the house "here take this" she said handing Annie a small single barrel red gun.

"A flair?" Annie said examining the gun and the large cylinder flares, "what do we need this for?"

"Just in case," Eren said as he to walked out of the house "better to have it in a worst case scenario"

"Well I don't think we'll need it," Marco said as Annie threw the gun to Armin

"Well be back in an hour or two," Jean said and they began their trip around the lake. It took the better part of an hour for them to follow the small trail around the lake but they soon reached their destination.

The canoe rental shop was a little more than a small shack with a small fleet of assorted marine crafts, everything from small row boats to large sailboats. The man in the shack was an older gentleman with a scraggly gray beard, despite appearances though he spoke kindly saying "what can I do for you youngsters?"

"We'd like to rent a couple of canoes," Marco said with a smile "how much do you charge"

"It'll be forty-seven dollars per canoe," the old man said

Armin quickly did the math and found it to be just shy one hundred and fifty, Signaling this to

Jean who in turn relayed it to Marco. Their nonverbal communication was suddenly cut off as the old man began looking around, seeing no one else he whispered to them "take em for seventy, o.k, just don't mention it"

Not trusting themselves to say a word the six companions could only nod. Quickly finishing the transaction the old man began helping them pick out the canoes. They finally settled on a two twelve foot Canadian fiberglass canoes and a small fifteen-foot dory. Krista and Sasha got one canoe while Armin and Annie got the other, and most of the bags were stored inside the dory with Marco and Jean.

"Any of ya have any sailing experience?" the old man asked as they set the boats in the water.

"I used to sale here with my dad," Jean said when everyone was seated properly in their boats.

"Alright off you go then," the old man said as he gave each of the boats a light push

As the boats smoothly slide away the old man shouted out to them "and be careful of the east side of titans isle"

The boats glided over the water with just the slightest splash of the oars, it took a moment or two for them to all get into a rhythm but when they did the really began to move. As the moved towards the center of the lake Armin shouted out to Jean "what's titan's isle?"

"It's a small island near the center of the lake" Jean shouted back "you wanna go see it?"

"Ya let's go see it" Sasha shouted from the other side of the dory

"Didn't the old man say to stay clear of the island though?" Krista hollered

"Don't worry he said to stay clear of the east side" Jean called back

"Well what do you say, boss," Sasha said

All the boats stopped dead in the water, Armin turned around from his seat in the front of the canoe to see what Annie would say. Taking a moment to think Annie finally said "well let's just stay clear of the east side, and I'm sure we'll be fine"

"Alright let's go, the last one to the island has to unload the supplies!" Sasha exclaimed as she and Krista propelled forward followed by Jean and Marco.

"Well let's not lose, right?" Armin said flashing Annie a grin

For the next half hour, the rowed towards the center of the lake, after the first fifteen Sasha and

Krista lost most of their momentum and fell to third place while it stayed almost even between

Armin and Annie or Jean and Marco. As they neared the small island Armin and Annie pulled ahead of Marco and Jean.

Suddenly the boat began to tilt to one side and before they knew it Annie and Armin were in the water. Recovering from the initial shock of the cold water Armin began to push for the shore hoping Annie was doing the same. As he pulled himself on to the sandy beach he saw Annie was there as well, quickly he helped her out of the water and onto the beach.

"What the hell happened!?" Annie coughed as she sat up

"I think we found the east side," Armin said as he looked to where the canoe was capsized and being carried away by riptide "this is probably why the old man wanted us to stay away from the shore"

Slowly Marco and Jean approached the shore and Jean called out "I don't think we can get to the canoe without being caught by the tide as well"

"Well, then what the hell do you want us to do!?" Annie yelled back

"Just hang tight," Marco said "well go get help. if you can see if you can't get to your bags, signal the old man and see if the food isn't ruined" and with then Maroc, Jean, Krista, and Sasha all turned back and began making their way back to the docks.

"Alright let's see if we can't get to the bags," Annie said. Quickly she and Armin striped off all their unnecessary weight such as shoes, shirts, socks, all the way down to their underclothes.

As they waded through the first two or three feet of water Armin was once again surprised by how cold the water was.

As they got to about four feet deep Armin could barely feel the rocks below anymore and the canoe was still a good thirteen or fourteen away. Looking over to Annie he said "I think we're going to need to swim for it"

With nothing more to say they both took large breaths and plunged into the cold water. Taking a moment to gather himself Armin realized the water was actually quite clean. Looking to his right he could see Annie gathering herself as well. After a few moments they began to move quickly they made it to the capsized canoe and untied the bags from the front and back.

With the bags on their backs, they surfaced and held onto the canoe for a moment, to catch their breath. "So now what?" Armin asked as they held onto the canoe

"Well from the looks of it the others have barely made any headway," Annie said pointing out towards the water where they could still see the dory slowly rowing away with the other canoe in tow.

"So we're stuck here," Armin said

"Ya," Annie said, with that, they began the swim back to the island, now with the heavy bags and fighting the current but they finally made it back to shore both exhausted.

"Should we send the flare?" Annie asked as she looked at the contents of the bags

"Not sure how much it'll help but sure," Armin said

Cupping their hands over their ears Annie raised the gun to the air and shot over the water in the direction of the dock. Even with his hand over his ears Armin could still here, and feel the force. As Armin and Annie watched the flare sale away they sat together to wait for their rescue.

looking over Armin saw Annie laid down on the sand in her underwear and thought _'well I suppose it could be worse'_

 **Alright sorry it's late I had some class related problems, but you don't care about that. thanks for reading, let me know what you think**

 **fox**


	31. the new 104th chapter 5

**The new 104th chapter 5**

"Hey Eren, do you think I should cut my hair short again?" Mikasa said as she and Eren sat on the dock just outside the house

"What's wrong with it now?" Eren said taking a closer look at Mikasa's almost shoulder back length hair

"I just think it's a little hot and messy" Mikasa said as she fiddled with the ends

"I think it looks fine," Eren said, "how short were you thinking anyway?"

"Probably around chin length Mikasa said, "why don't you grow your hair out?"

"What like dad's?" Eren said sounding defeated

For a moment Mikasa just stared at Eren slowly she started brushing her hand through his short shaggy brown hair.

"Stop that" Eren said meekly

"Why don't you like it?" Mikasa said scooting next to Eren with her head on his shoulder. Slowly she continued to brush her hand through Eren's hair

"It's not that," Eren said submitting to Mikasa's touch "it's just I've been thinking about what we're going to do about the apartment"

Suddenly Mikasa stopped her brushing and cupped Eren's face in her hand's. Planting a small kiss on his lips she said: "don't worry we'll figure something out, we always do."

"I hope your right" Eren said, "but wha…."

Suddenly they were cut off by a soft bang and the sight of a red light sailing in the distance

"That's the flare isn't it!?" Eren said standing up trying to get a better view

"Where the hell did it come from!?" Mikasa said as she got up as well "they wouldn't have shot it off if something wasn't wrong"

"Quick we need to get to the docks," Eren said "we need to figure out what's wrong"

In a flash, they were off the dock running on the trail around the lake, a mile in length but no problem for either of them.

As Jean, Marco, Sasha, and Krista neared the dock they saw the old man. Not even bothering to tie the boats they all got off and rushed to the old man.

"Ya didn't listen to me did ya?" the old man said rubbing his temples with his big callused hands

"We thought we were far enough from the east side," Sasha said

"Please there has to be something you can do," Krista said tears forming in her eyes as she began to quiver "our friends are stuck on the island"

"Krista you need to calm down," Jean said

"No you don't understand you didn't see Annie" Krista cried out

"What do you mean?" Maroc said, "what's wrong with Annie?"

"When the canoe capsized part of it snapped," Krista said between sobs "I don't know why she didn't notice but she got cut up her back"

"By the canoe!?" Jean said

"Yes from the looks of it it went from her hip left all the way up to her right shoulder," Krista said

"we need to hurry, it looked really bad, there was blood ev..ery...whe...re" suddenly Krista collapsed onto the dock, it was a miracle that Marco caught her

"What the hell happened to her!?" Jean said as Marco laid Krista down on the dock

"She must be squeamish," Marco said

"Quickly bring her off the dock," the old man said "I've got some smelling salt in the shack"

As the old man handed the small jar to Sasha he told Jean and Marco "you two have to go get your friend do either of ya know how to drive a runabout?"

"No," they both said

"Well I can't just leave the lass here," the old man said

"Well isn't there anyone else who knows how to drive a boat?" Marco said

"Depends what kind?" Mikasa said as she caught the last of the conversation

"What happened?" Eren asked as he knelt down beside Sasha and the unconscious Krista.

"Armin and Annie canoe capsized by the titan's isle," Marco said "and Annie got cut"

"Then we need to get out there as fast as possible" Mikasa said, "fiberglass will leave a really deep cut, wheres the boat?"

So for the next twenty minutes, they prepared the small eighteen-foot run boat. The boat named Helos fist was a modest five-man motorboat with an inboard engine, it had a sleek wooden design.

"Make sure you don't get more than five yards to the island, helos fist can hold its own but the pull of the titan's isle is a nasty one," the old man said

"How will they get our friends on board if they're so far away," Marco asked

"Your gonna have to swim to them and bring the mooring line for them to use to swim back without getting swept away by the current" the old man explained "alright then off you go, miss Ackerman your caption, and you two listen to her"

"Right," Jean and Eren said as the three of them climbed into the boat and set off for the island.

As Armin searched the island, Annie sat on the shore staring out at the lake. Their clothes were hung up on a tree to Annie's left drying.

"Well this sucks, told them to be careful" Annie mumbles to herself as she laid back. The moment Annie's shoulder hit the rough sand she felt an unbearable pain run down her spine. A gasp was all that Annie could manage as her back felt as if it were on fire, Sitting back up Annie felt her lower backlight up as well. Looking back Annie could see a large puddle of blood in the sand where her back had been moments before, Shocked Annie called out for Armin.

As Armin wandered through the lush pine trees of the surprisingly large island he suddenly heard Annie calling out to him. 'Oh the rescue must be here' quickly making his way back to the shore he was greeted by the sight of Annie crumpled on the ground her teeth gritted and her face in pain.

For a moment Armin was shocked by the amount of blood that was pooling in the sand and running down Annie's back. Suddenly hit by nausea Armin felt his stomach churning at just the sight. Quickly composing himself Armin ran to Annie and helped her sit up.

"What happened!?" Armin asked

"I don't know!" Annie hissed "I need you to clean and wrap the wound!"

"How do I do that!?" Armin asked frantically

"O.k I need you to get the water in the bag, it needs to be clean!" Annie said pointing to the bag

Quickly Armin grabbed the water and returned to Annie where she had grabbed a rag and a stick.

"I need you to clean the wound," Annie said as she sat up allowing Armin a better view of the cut, it was a wide deep cut that ran from her shoulder all the way down to her hip. Slowly Armin doused the rag in water and wiped it down the cut. The moment the rag touched the skin Annie let out a long painful hiss, instantly Armin pulled the rag away.

"No, no keep going I can manage!" Annie said putting the stick in her mouth and biting down on it.

Slowly Armin ran the rag down her back again, this time he tried desperately not to listen to Annie's cry's of pain, but to no avail. When he was finally done wiping away all the blood the cloth was soaked and Armin was just about at his limit.

Painting Annie finally said, "o.k I need you to wrap it now and make sure there is enough pressure, quickly before it starts bleeding again!"

Grabbing his shirt Armin cut it into strips the first he soaked and pressed onto Annie's wounded, finally Armin tied the strip to her around her waist chest and neck just to keep it from moving too much.

"O.k I think that's it," Armin said as he fell down, exhausted and sick to his stomach, next to Annie "you're probably going to need stitches when we get home"

"You think?" Annie asked with a tired smile "that's if we can even make it home"

"I'm sure their on their way," Armin said as his head fell in exhaustion

"Ya," Annie said as she too dropped her head onto the sand, and there they slept.

As Mikasa neared the island she began to slow down until they were more than twenty feet away, to the left they could see the wrecked canoe.

Looking out onto the choppy water Jean said "you really want us to swim in this"

"What are you scared?" Eren said mockingly

"No I just don't want to endanger more people," Jean said "we need to think of a better idea then swimming"

"This has nothing to do with Armin and Annie you just wanna save your own skin," Eren said pointing an accusing finger at Jean who shook his head and sat down "fine I'll do it myself"

"No you won't," Mikasa said "I'll go"

"I'm not going to let you risk your life your the only one who can drive the boat," Eren said grabbing Mikasa by the shoulders

"Eren your hand is still messed up, there is no way you can swim to the island and back," Mikasa said "I won't let you do it"

"That's why it's not up to you" Eren sad kissing Mikasa and a second later grabbing a rope that was tied to the boat and jumping into the water

"Damn it Eren get back here!" Mikasa shouted, "Jean get your ass in their and help him!"

As Eren neared the island he could see the fiberglass canoe which was capsized and broken, not having much opportunity to examine it closer Eren continued. The water was cold and pushed and pulled Eren to and fro but as long as he kept moving he would be fine. Finally getting his feet under himself Eren walked up on shore. Looking down the beach Eren saw the blonde hair of Armin and Annie, and a shocking amount of blood running into the water.

Tying the rope to a beached log Eren ran to where Armin was hunched over an unresponsive Annie. "Armin!, what happened!?" Eren said when he finally reached them.

"I don't know she had a big cut on her back when I got back from exploring the island, we need to get her out of here now she needs medical attention!" Armin said frantically

"Alright help me carry her, we're getting out of here!" Eren said as he and Armin grabbed Annie by the arms and lifted her onto their shoulders. Quickly they stumbled back to where Eren tied the rope off where they caught up with Jean.

"What happened!? How did she get cut!?" Jean said as he caught sight of Annie

"We don't know, but we need to go now!" Eren said

As they got Annie into the water Armin held her head above the water and tied the rope around his waist, while Eren and Jean moved halfway up the length of the rope. Signaling to Mikasa they began to pull Armin and Annie closer to the boat. As they neared the boat Mikasa reached down and grabbed Annie and hauled her into the boat, while the others climbed in as well, and so they were off.

As the boat sped away Mikasa asked "what the hell happened Armin"

"We were out on the water and got dragged sideways by the tide, we ended up in the water and swam to the island, I have no clue how Annie got cut, but we need to get her home now!"

"Isn't there a first aid in the compartment?" Jean said as he searched the glove compartment of the boat. Instantly he found a small red box with a big white pair of wings on it "here see if there's anything you can use in there.

Searching through the box Armin found a large cloth medical bandage, some alcohol, and some tape. Shaking Armin removed the cut up fabric and began to replace it, slowly he wiped a towel with the alcohol and pressed it into her cut. Instantly there was a response as Annie jolted awake with a cry of pain. Quickly Eren and Jean restrained her and put a length of the rope between her teeth.

"Calm down Annie your safe, we're on our way home," Armin said holding her head in his hands so she was looking at him "just look at me and bite down" it was at that moment Eren took another wipe of the cloth down her back, causing another violent reaction. "Just look at me Annie, keep your eyes on me, o.k" nodding her head Annie kept her eyes on Armin's trying desperately to try not to think about the pain in her spine.

As they neared the dock Eren finally finished placing the tape around the bandage. "O.k it's done," Eren said as he moved to sit in the seat next to Mikasa.

"Are you alright Annie?" Armin asked as he sat down with her in the back seat "how do you feel?"

"Like crap," Annie said dryly "and you?"

"A little nauseous" Armin said his face going pale as the thought of blood seeped into his mind.

"Look at the bright side," Jean said from the row in front of them "at least you'll have a new scar to show people"

As they pulled near the dock by the house Armin and Annie got off while Eren, Mikasa, and

Jean went to take the boat back. "Are you sure you can make it to the house fine?" Mikasa said as Armin helped Annie onto the dock

"Ya I think we can manage," Annie said glancing over at Armin

"Alright well be back with Sasha and Krista soon," Eren said and with that, they sped away

"Alright now the hard part," Armin said as he carried Annie over his shoulder back to the house.

"Hey Armin," Annie said sleepily

"Ya" Armin grunted as he made his way up the front stairs of the house

"Did you find anything on the island?" Annie said as she began to fall asleep again

"Come on you need to stay awake," Armin said shifting her slightly

"Ya I'm awake," Annie said as she shook her head

"And yes I did find something," Armin said as he sat Annie down on a stool by the sink

Running to the bathroom quickly Armin grabbed the medical kit that was kept in the counter below the sink, returning to the kitchen he pulled a strange stone he had found on the island, and handed it to Annie.

As Annie examined the stone Armin began getting the supplies ready to stitch Annie's wound.

Annie fumbled with the long clear stone it was about an inch and a half in length and was hexagonal in shape. It was almost see through. Suddenly Annie's train of thought was interrupted as she felt the needle slide through her back, letting out a hiss of pain she went back to focusing on the stone to distract her mind from the pain.

"Sorry," Armin said as he looped the needle back through "just don't focus on it"

"Trying not to," Annie said "what kind of stone is this"

"I'm not quite sure," Armin said "but it does look pretty, I was thinking of doing something with it"

"Like what?" Annie asked as she rolled the stone in her hand

"I'm not sure yet," Armin said "almost done"

"It's about time," Annie said "how do you know how to sow anyway? Your way to Squamish to have studied medical"

"Perhaps but I used to stitch Eren when he would get into a fight," Armin said with a smile

"Ya, that was usually my mom's job…," Annie said trailing off

For a moment they were silent, then Annie said: "Armin what do you think I should do with my violin now?"

"Well, you could still play it when you have time" Armin said as he tied off the end of the string and cut it off "there that's done now we need to clean it and bandage it up so it doesn't open up" after all that was done Armin helped Annie outside to the patio chair where she sat.

"Well today's been eventful," Armin said as he sat down beside Annie

"That's one way of putting it," Annie said "but this got me thinking of something"

"What's that?" Armin asked as he sat forward a little

"Who I'm going to make the lead," Annie said "Mikasa took charge of the situation when she needed to but was unable to rein things in when it was needed. Jean was so focused on holding onto some scene of normality he was unable to make the important decision. Eren he was able to do what no one else was able to but at too much of a cost, but you…."

"Wait, Annie, I can see where you're going with this and…" Armin began before Annie stopped him

"Armin, you were able to do what you knew was right even when you didn't want to, please be the lead," Annie said "I know you can do it"

Letting out a heavy sigh Armin got up and began to pace, stopping he finally said "can I have some time to think"

"Alright…" Annie said a little sad that he wasn't too enthused "please don't take too long"

 **Alright everyone there you are, Please let me know what you think.**

 **fox**


	32. the new 104th chapter 6

**The new 104th chapter 6**

"So what's wrong?" Eren said as he and Armin sat on the dock in front of the house, fishing poles in hand.

"What, nothing," Armin said as he stared out at the water where Krista, Marco, Annie, and Sasha were sitting on a dock in the middle of the lake basking in the rays of the early morning sun.

"There's obviously something wrong so just say it," Eren said nudging Armin in the shoulder

"It's nothing, seriously," Armin said putting on a grin

"If it was nothing then you wouldn't be mopping" Eren pointed out "you didn't think I wouldn't notice?"

With a heavy sigh of defeat, Armin said: "Am I really that see-through?"

"No," Eren said "I've just known longer than I've been able to walk"

"Has it really been that long…" Armin said

"Ya, and trust me I could read you like a book," Eren said smiling "looks like you got a bite"

Looking down at the fishing rod Armin saw that the line was twitching, quickly grabbing it Armin slowly began to reel it in "so what's wrong, real" Eren said

"I … um ..Annie wants me to be the lead…" Armin stammered

"That's good isn't it?" Eren said a little confused as to what the problem is

"Well I don't know if I can do it," Armin said sheepishly "what if I'm no good, you know"

"That's it!?" Eren said after a moment "who cares if your no good, the important thing is that you tried"

"But this is so important to Annie and I don't want to make a fool of the group," Armin said

"Damn it Armin" Eren muttered "do you think we care of looking like idiots!? The important part is that we do our best and that's it"

"How could we do any good with me in the lead?" Armin said

"Armin in all the time I've known you, you have always been the smartest person ever…." Eren started saying

"I'm sensing a but," Armin said

"Sometimes you are also the dumbest person in the world," Eren said "do you know why"

"That wasn't very nice Eren…" Armin said quietly

"It's because you for all your book smarts, you still have no clue how to deal with genuine emotion," Eren said answering for him

"But…." Armin began to say

"The best thing you can do now is trust Annie," Eren said "leave it to her, she's definitely resourceful"

"More than you know," Armin said smiling to himself as he watched Annie listen to an obvious hairball scheme from Sasha.

"Alright the last one to reach the dock has to do whatever everyone else says for the rest of the day," Sasha said pointing to the dock at least thirty feet away.

"Is there any limitations?" Marco said

"Please nothing too embarrassing," Krista said lamblike

"Nothing lewd either" Annie huffed

"Alright then let's go!" Sasha said "everyone on the far edge, we go on three"

"Is your back going to be o.k" Krista asked Annie as they all positioned themselves

"I'll be fine," Annie said certain she'd be fine, she made it out here with no problem

"One…. two….. THREE!" Sasha called and with that, they were off

Annie took the plunge quick taking a moment Annie got her bearings and let her eyes adjust to the water. Looking ahead she saw Sasha just a short distance away still getting oriented.

Pushing forward Annie began to swim towards the surface and ahead, surfacing Annie saw she was still at least twenty five feet from the dock, with Sasha a mere three feet in front of her. Kicking Annie began to make up the gap, Sasha held the lead for the first ten or twelve feet but steadily Annie began to close into the point they were neck and neck. It wasn't until they were less than ten feet away that Annie suddenly began to feel the pain in her back return this time more of a stinging feeling. Forcing herself to keep going Annie began to feel weaker, it wasn't until her vision began to fade that she noticed the people on shore calling her name. Pushing the last few feet, Annie struggled to pull herself up the ladder of the dock. Faintly Annie felt pressure on her arms and suddenly she was being lifted up before her entire world went black.

On either side of Annie Levi and Mikasa sat Annie down on the dock her back seeping blood

"Quick go get the damn med kit, now!" Levi shouted to Armin. As quick as possible Armin ran to the house where Petra was already with the first aid kit and a pair of gloves.

"Oh gods Annie, are you O.K, Annie!?" Sasha said shaking Annie

"She's unconscious Sasha, move back," Levi said trying to reassure the panicking adolescent

"Will she be O.K?" Sasha asked quietly as Marco and Krista pulled themselves up to the dock as well

"We'll see. Armin where's that first aid kit!" Levi yelled out

"I got it right here move a little," Armin said kneeling on the dock Armin took a look at the wound

"Quick, I need some clean water, a whole lot of napkins and a knife" Armin called out quickly

Armin put on the gloves as he heard someone run down the dock towards the house and quickly return with what he needed.

Taking the knife Armin cut the old stitches from Annie's back, instantly Annie began to struggle, quickly Mikasa and Levi grabbed her arms again

"Hold still Annie it's gonna hurt for a minute," Sasha said holding Annie head so she didn't hurt herself, or more likely someone else.

With the stitches off Armin began fo poor the water on the cut, and wipe it away with the napkins causing them to soak with blood and water. Reaching into the first aid Armin grabbed an alcohol pad "hold on to her, this is going to hurt" Armin said as he ran the alcohol pad down her back, Annie began to react violently, thrashing about, and letting out a blood-curdling scream. As Armin cleaned the wound Annie's thrashing got so bad that Eren and Jean also had to grab hold of her arms while Krista, Marco, Gunther andEld held down her legs but even that wasn't enough. Like a whip Annie's arm got free off Eren and Levi and swiped back catching Armin in the head, sending him sprawling on the dock.

"Armin are you O.K!" Petra said helping him back up

"Ya I'm fine," Armin said as he got up and helped Levi and Eren restrain Annie from continuing to claw at her back. Once her arm was restrained again Armin returned to cleaning. Finishing with the alcohol Armin grabbed the tread and needle Petra had prepared. "Alright, we're almost done" steadily Armin stuck the needle into Annie's back and began to pull the gash back together.

After several more minutes of screaming and thrashing Armin finally finished, cutting the string Armin sat down on the dock gasping for air. covered in blood, and tired Armin collapsed for a few moments and wiped away the sweat from his head but suddenly his stomach lurched as he looked at his hand and found more blood.

"Armin your bleeding!" Krista called out. Grabbing a mirror from the first aid Armin noticed a blood seeping from his head. Quickly Krista grabbed more alcohol and began wiping the blood away and began to rap it with a medical bandage. "There all better"

With that over everyone began to move off the dock except for Eren and Armin who sat with Annie, for fear of moving her opening her stitches again.

"Didn't you tell her not to move so much?" Eren said lightheartedly

"You know she'll do it anyway," Armin said with a smile "besides what makes you think I could stop her?"

"That's true, should we get her inside?" Eren said standing up

"No best not to disturb her least the stitches open again," Armin said

"If you say so," Eren said making his way back to the house "do you need anything"

"No," Armin said with a sad smile, "I think we'll be fine"

Slowly Armin eased himself down to sit next to the unconscious Annie, there he sat for who knows how long, Periodically someone would come from the house to check on them. After sitting there with Annie for two and a half hours Armin began to douse off his head slumping.

Memories flashed through Armin's eyes as he slept biggest amongst them was a memory from his childhood

' _Armin what are ya doin'_

' _I'm reading grandpapa'_

' _Oh you are ya, what are ya reading?'_

' _It's about Karl Fritz'_

' _Oh the first king, you know I actually met the first king'_

' _You did!'_

' _Oh yes I did, when I was a little boy my father met him?'_

' _What was he like?'_

' _he was a huge man, big as a bear, and harry like one too, granted he was ancient by that time'_

' _How old was he?'_

' _Well my papa told me he was well over a hundred, he was definitely old enough to have_

 _grandchildren about as old as I was'_

' _You met them too?'_

' _Yes I did, a girl by the name of Dina, she became one of my closest friends'_

' _What happened to her?'_

' _Well, that's a story for another time….'_

Slowly Armin's vision filled with light as he opened his eyes to see Annie silhouetted by the setting sun, her hair was golden in the sun, her blue eyes almost shining. "Armin, you awake?"

"Ya I'm awake, are you O.K?" Armin said sitting up

"Fine, you didn't have to wait for me you know.," Annie said turning to look at the lake, and away from Armin.

"What else should I have done?" Armin said with a smile 'nice to know nothing's different'

"What happened to your head?" Annie asked taking the subject off her

"You got me across the head," Armin said with a smile "hurt like hell"

"Oh, what do you want me to kiss it better?" Annie said in a teasing tone

"We...well i .. I won't stop you," Armin said quietly to himself

"Oh really," Annie said obviously hearing Armin

"I … I mean if you want" Armin stammered his face turning red

"I think the bigger question is do you want me to?" Annie said as she moved to sit on Armin's lap facing him now "well"

Without another word, Annie leaned down and planted a kiss on Armin's forehead before moving lower and planting a kiss on his left cheek.

Quickly Armin leaned forward and planted a kiss on Annie's mouth, slowly Annie pulled away after a moment lowering her head as to hide her blush

"Where did that come from?" Annie said quietly

"Well I figured it's the easiest way to prove a point," Armin said

"What point?" Annie asked

"You're not as tough as you say," Armin said with a smile

"You wanna bet.." Annie began to say until she was cut off

"Looks like your feeling better"

Both looking towards the house Armin and Annie saw Levi

"Go get changed into some real clothes Annie," Levi said "we're going to start practice now"

"Right," Annie said

"And make it quick, we have important business to do today," Levi said as he took his leave

 **Alright, sorry it's so late finals have been a killer, but here it is I hope you like it.**

 **fox**


	33. The new 104th chapter 7

**The new 104th chapter 7**

"You must be drunk Levi, there is no way," Eren said as Armin and Annie made their way to the barn

"What's wrong now," Annie said harshly, as everyone gathered in the barn to listen to Levi

"You have a preference tonight," Levi said flatly as he began to walk back to the house "good luck"

"Levi wait, what the hell do you mean we have a preference, where when?" Annie said following close behind Levi

"You have a preference in Trost, a small jazz club, at eight pm, anything else?" Levi said addressing the entire lot "no? alright then I think you have a performance to prepare for" and with that Levi went into the house.

Levi stood on the second floor looking out at the barn where the small band scrambled to get ready. From the stairs, he could hear someone coming up. Turning from the window he saw Petra, an upset scoule on her face.

"What did you do caption!?" Petra demanded more than asked "they're not ready"

"Their ready" Levi said smoothly

"They've only had a few days of training, Levi what are you thinking" Petra ordered

"You know if you two are gonna argue could you at least do it in your room," Erwin said "please Petra I asked Levi to do this"

"Why!?" Petra shorted

"Keith wants to see how they're coming along, I'm sorry my hands are tied," Erwin said shrugging

"Then tell Keith to get his ass up here then!" Petra ordered

"I'm sorry Petra I can't do anything about this" Erwin said

"Why!?, I thought you were the great Erwin Smith!?" Petra said accusingly "and you Levi, When were you one to do what anyone said!?"

"I'm sorry Petra," Erwin said spreading out his hands in a defensive posture "my hands are tied, Keith says he wants them ready now"

"And you really think this is the smartest way," Petra asked, "they aren't ready!"

"Sometimes you need to kick the chick out of the nest for them to fly," Erwin said, "was it any different for you?"

"I suppose not…" Petra said

"trust me Petra, they will do fine," Levi said slowly approaching her and placing his hand on her shoulder.

Suddenly Petra's thoughts jumped back to when she was a bright-eyed first year performing with the local community band. It wasn't until halfway through the year that she remembered meeting those she called her family now.

" _Hello? is anyone here?" Petra said entering the classroom listed on the flier that read_ ' _ **auditions for small jazz combo, all welcome, room R342'**_ _looking around she couldn't see anyone "maybe I'm too early" she said to herself_

" _On the contrary your right on time"_

 _Turning quickly with a shrill squeak Petra came face to face with the form she instantly recognized as the student council president Erwin Smith_

" _So nice to meet you I'm…" he began to say stretching his hand out in greeting_

" _Your Erwin Smith," Petra said taking his large hand in hers and shaking it enthusiastically_

" _So you've heard of me," Erwin said with a smile_

" _Of course I have, who hasn't," Petra said_

" _Please, meet my associate," Erwin said gesturing behind himself to a much shorter man Petra had never seen before. He was short but well built, with short black hair and dark rings under his eyes. his eye was a dull gray in color almost metallic, but they had a strange aura to them, almost piercing._

" _I.. I'm Petra… Petra Ral" she said offering her hand in a gesture of sincerity_

" _Levi," he said taking her hand in his_

 _It was at that moment that she knew, this is where she belonged. Their the first concert was several weeks after that, just barely having received all their members, they performed at the school festival. the entire week Petra could feel butterflies in her stomach, Shortly before the performance was scheduled to begin she felt a hand come to rest on her bare shoulder, looking back she saw Levi an unusual smirk across his face._

" _Scared?" Levi asked in a hushed voice_

" _What if I don't do good enough?" Petra asked turning to face him_

" _You practiced right?" Levi asked_

" _... well … yes, but.." Petra began to say_

" _Then you'll do just fine, trust me, o.k," Levi said_

" _O.k," Petra said "I trust you"_

 _And on that day is when Petra started her new life with Levi, a few months later they were married and their precious Kuchel was born the following spring._

"Petra are you listening?" Levi asked

Letting out a heavy sigh and a nod Petra finally said "alright Levi, I trust you"

Outside Annie was busy gathering everyone.

"Alright take everything, instruments, music and don't forget anything," Annie said and with that, they began gathering all of their equipment, instruments, stands, music, and even chairs and begin taking them all down to the cars which they would then take to Trost.

"Alright I think that's it," Armin said as he stood with Annie watching the last of the stuff go

"Annie!" Erwin called from behind them as he made a gesture for her to come

"Good luck," Armin said as he made his way to the cars to finish the last preparations

With a sigh, Annie made her way to Erwin "what?" she said

"Good work already, but be warned that you will be performing for a very special audience," Erwin said

"It's Mr. Shadis, isn't it?" Annie said flatly

"Yes, it is, how perceptive of you Mrs. Lionheart," Erwin said "I don't think I need to tell you that this will determine if the college is willing to spend any more money on you, essentially an evaluation"

"Good, I've been wondering when we could have a real go at it," Annie said tauntingly

"Good," Erwin said "let's see if you have what it takes then"

The rest of the day was spent individually preparing for the performance. As six pm approached everyone began to gather outside on the porch where the older band had prepared a small celebratory meal.

As Armin looked around he was surprised to see how well they were coming together, already everyone was even dressed the same. Jean, Marco, Eren, Sasha, and Armin had a white dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up, a black vest, dark pants, and a forest green tie, while Annie, Mikasa, and Krista wore knee-length dresses in the same green color with a black trim.

"Are you ready?" Annie said as she took a seat with Armin

"I hope so," Armin said a quiver in his voice

"Don't worry we'll be fine?" Annie said resting her head on his shoulder.

Letting out a sigh Armin relaxed a little bit so he was more comfortable.

"Hey, Armin if this performance goes well maybe..." Annie began to say before stopping abruptly her face getting red "come on let's take a walk" taking Armin's hand Annie led them towards the dock.

"If the performance goes well?" Armin prompted when they finally got to the dock.

"Well, I… I was just thinking… maybe we should… you know celebrate" Annie finally said her face going red as she looked away

In an instant, Armin's face went red as he stammered "wh...what do you mean celebrate?"

"I mean ….. You know ...just us" Annie said her voice growing quiet

"Annie I...I love you but that's a kinda big step" Armin mumbled

"Is it? really? we've been together forever at this point and we've hardly had any time for just us?" Annie said her face burning up as she turned to face him.

"I..if you really want to, then we should at least get protection," Armin said as he got more and more embarrassed

"Wait What, you mean?" Annie said a confused expression crossing her face.

"What?" Armin said completely lost, confused and dumbfounded

"Armin, I was talking about taking a vacation, just us," Annie said tilting her head to get a better look at Armin's face "wait! what were you thinking!?"

In an instant, all the color flushed out of Armin's cheeks and then suddenly went almost scarlet. "Nothing!" Armin said putting his face in hands to hide his shame.

"Armin if you wanted to ... _do_ _it,_ " Annie said rising from the bench "all you had to do was say so" mustering her courage Annie took the next step and sat there in Armin's lap.

"Wait, Annie!…." Armin began to say but was instantly silenced as Annie leaned in closer

"Why wait?" Annie said, "you said you loved me, right?"

"I do it's just…I don't think we should rush it" Armin finally said

"Fair enough" Annie whispered in his ear "but until your ready too, this will have to do"

Gently Annie brushed Armin's hair out of the way and planted a kiss on his head. For a moment they sat there forehead to forehead, basking in each others presence until it came time to go.

As they finally reached the jazz club they found it to no more than a hole in the wall.

"Well how do we get in?" even asked the question everyone had on their minds.

"Figure it out," Levi said roughly

"Some help you were" Eren mumbled until Levi kicked him in the back in the leg.

"Anyone have any good ideas?" Annie said to the whole group

"Why don't we just go through the front door?" Krista posed

"Worth a shot," Armin said "come on Annie, let's go see"

They stood in line for a little over a few minutes while the others hung back. As they finally reached the front of the line they came face to face with a big man in a suit, obviously the bouncer.

"Sorry we don't serve minors," the big man said "next"

"Wait we're…" Armin began to say

"I said next, now scram kid before I thrown you out," the bouncer said

"try it" Annie challenged "no? then shut up and pay attention, we're the one hundred and fourth, we were scheduled to perform here so you either let us in or we still take the money and don't perform, either way, we already got paid"

"What seems to be the problem here?" a small pudgy man said

"I take it you are the boss," Annie said

"That I am, and who might you be?" the pudgy man said

"Annie, boss of the one hundred and fourth humanity's elite combo, and your bouncer has given me sufficient proof to never return to perform here again"

"I'm sorry for that I was given all the information by a miss Zoë, but I suppose it must have gotten lost in the moment, please speak to me directly, you and your group are to enter through the back entrance."

"Thank you," Annie said "Armin, let's go"

As the walked away Annie could hear the pudgy man yelling at the bouncer.

"I didn't know we already got paid," Armin said as they began to unload everything through the back entrance

"We haven't," Annie said "but the bouncer didn't know that"

And on that note, they began the night.

 **Alright everyone, sorry I've been gone for a while, I had to muster my thoughts but I now know where we're going next, so stay tuned for that.**

 **Fox**


	34. the new 104th chapter 8

**The 104th chapter 8**

"Alright boss I think we're all set," Sasha said as they finished gathering and setting all of their instruments.

"Good" hang about till the bar opens," Annie said "best not to blow yourselves out practicing" and with that, they all separated most of them going to the bar

The bar was to the right of the door and stretched almost all the way to the small low stage. The stage stood in front of several round tables way on the back wall. To the left of the stage, there were booths for people to sit as well. Parallel the stage was a private room where people could sit and talk more privately but that usually had to be reserved, behind the stage there was a small loading area that led to the back alley.

"Miss Annie?" the pudgy man called out "I will have to ask that you and your group to not drink so much"

"Of course, there all the most professional," Annie said looking over they saw Sasha trying to balance two bottles on her head

"yes, the most professional," the pudgy man said with a smirk

"yes I believe so," Annie said as she went off to join the others at one of the back tables

"Hay Annie check it out!" Sasha called out, now on top of the two bottles she now had an ashtray and another bottle with Marco steadily trying to add another

"Will you two stop that before you break something?" Levi said as he made his way to the table

"Sorry," Sasha and Marco said dropping all the bottles back onto the table with a quick catch

"You are all legal right," Levi asked

"No," Annie said "Armin, Eren, Mikasa, and Marco aren't"

"Alright make sure the owner doesn't catch you even looking at a bottle," Levi said "are you already"

With one quick glance back at the others Annie nodded once and said "they are ready"

"Good best not disappoint," Levi said

"And remember to have fun," Petra said with a smile as she and Levi went to the bar

"Wait Armin you're not able to drink!?" Krista said, "how old are you?"

"I'm twenty, plus I have no real intention to drink," Armin said

"Why?" Sasha asked, "is it like a religious thing?"

"No, nothing like that" Armin said "I just don't see the reason to"

"Eh, your loss" Sasha said taking a long swig

Lightly Annie griped Armin's hand just a little harder and gave him a sad smile, "hey Sasha how's your dad"

"He's good, he's been looking into opening a new shop," Sasha said with a smile, "says If I can get it together I can take over the shop in town"

"Wow, that's amazing Sasha!" Krista exclaimed "what will it mean for you if you take over"

"It'll mean her business degree will be useless," Jean said with a laugh

"That's not true!, I can make it useful!" Sasha said "running a business is harder than you think"

"I more worried you'll eat all the food before you turn any profit," Eren said

"You guys are too mean," Sasha said with a pout "just you wait when I'm rich and successful we'll see who is laughing then!"

"Don't worry Sasha," Krista said "I believe in you"

"Thanks, Krista," Sasha said patting the small blonde on the head

"No offense Sasha, but the day you run a successful shop is the day I'll eat your dad's chili," Jean said

"Wait a minute there you know papa's chili's only real-world application is to melt rust," Sasha said with a straight face "don't ya mess with something like that"

"I'll call your bluff," Jean said "the day you run a good shop I'll eat your dad's killer chili"

"Count me in too," Mikasa said

"Alright when I win you'll both eat a bowl of dad's chili," Sasha said, "and if I lose?"

"when you lose we'll decide what your punishment will be," Jean said

"You're on!" Sasha said slamming her hand on the table "anyone else wants to join the non-believers!?"

"Wait what's this chili you're talking about?" Krista asked

"It's the infamous Daupar flaming torch!" Sasha exclaimed a note of pride in her voice

"Why do they call it that?" Armin asked confused

"That's simple," Sasha said "its because it used to be used as fuel for torches, but then someone figured it tasted pretty good"

"How do you even make something like that!?" Eren asked

"No clue it's only known by the elders of Daupar, and eventually its passed down generation to generation," Sasha said "it's kinda the staple of Daupar"

"Like Soupe à l'oignon!?" Krista said with a smile

"Huh?" Sasha asked a confused expression crossing her face as well as several others around the table.

"Oh you would love it," Krista said clapping her hands together "oh its meat stock with onions on the softest bread with the best cheese, it's very common in mitras"

"Isn't that really expensive though?" Marco asked

"Ya Frieda used to save so she could make it for us," Krista said dropping her gave with a sad smile "makes me miss home"

"Kinda sounds like that stew you were telling me about Annie," Mikasa said "what was it called again"

"Codal" Armin said "right?"

"It's c **a** dal," Annie said with a giggle "ya somewhat of a similar idea"

"What is it?" Eren asked

"Its pork, potato, carrot, onion, and whatever else you can find," Annie said her eyes squinting as she tried to remember the food of her people "mama used to throw in an extra potato for me, I can try to get you guys some if you w.."

"Yes!, please!" Sasha said leaning over the table and grabbing Annie's hands "you had me at potato"

"Come on Sasha you're dropping everything!" Annie said as Mikasa pulled her back into her seat

"Sorry," Sasha said wiping the drool from her mouth

"I do think it is time to get ready," Marco said looking down at his watch

From the stage, none of them could see much but they could hear not only the murmuring of the people and the shuffling of the workers but the beating of their hearts as well.

Mikasa stood in front with Krista, Eren, Jean, and Sasha sitting behind and to the left, Marco was just behind Krista, and Annie stood between Marco and Armin, who was faced looking towards the center just behind Mikasa. As they waited for everyone in the crowd to settle down Annie sat her bass down and sat with Armin on the piano bench

"Are you ready?" Annie said hushed

"No," Armin said truthfully "you?"

Shaking her head Annie couldn't even trust her words

Giving a soft smile Armin said "for luck" as he offered his pinky to her.

Smiling Annie took her pinky and wrapped it around his. Looking up they saw Mikasa making her way to the standing microphone it was time to start.

"Thank you for joining us tonight we are the one hundred and fourth, and thank you to to the sleeping titan for allowing us to perform, now if you'll join us for our first song" Mikasa said glancing back at Armin who began the opening of their first song, it was an Armstrong piece that started with a short piano intro leading into a call and response by Mikasa and Jean.

 _The way you wear your hat_

 _The way you sip your tea_

 _The memory of all that_

 _No, no, they can't take that away from me_

 _The way your smile just beams_

 _The way you sing off key_

 _The way you haunt my dreams_

 _No, no, they can't take that away from me_

 _We may never, never meet again_

 _On the bumpy road to love_

 _Still, I'll always, always keep the memory of_

 _The way you hold your knife_

 _The way we danced till three_

 _The way you changed my life_

 _No, no, they can't take that away from me_

 _No, they can't take that away from me_

It was at that point that the rest of the band entered backing Mikasa but never going over her and Jean who toward the end had a repeat of the main melody.

 _No, no, they can't take that away from me_

 _No, they can't take that away_

 _Can't take that away_

 _Can't take that away from me_

And with that, they ended the song with a short piano exit.

Relaxing for a moment the audience applauded, and Armin began the next song, this time a song by Raffery that started with a long alto and soprano saxophone intro with a bit of bass and percussion backing, at least a minute in Mikasa jumped in

 _Winding your way down to baker street_

 _Light in your head and dead on your feet_

 _Well another crazy day_

 _You'll drink the night away_

 _And forget about everything_

 _This city's dance makes you feel so cold_

 _It's got so many people but its got no soul_

 _And it's taken you so long_

 _To find out you were wrong_

 _When you thought it had everything_

 _You used to think that it was so easy_

 _You used to say that it was so easy_

 _But you're trying, you're trying now_

 _Another year and then you'll be happy_

 _Just one more year and then you'll be happy_

 _But you're crying you're crying now_

Then the saxophones jumped back in repeating the intro this time adding everyone as Mikasa resumed. As the song came to a close it was down to just Eren and Krista winding the main theme down with small interjections by Jean and Sasha.

Once again the audience seemed to love it.

The next song was a Sinatra classic that began with a percussion and piano intro until Mikasa entered with the bass and the soprano sax backing

 _Fly me to the moon and let me play among the stars_

 _Let me see what spring is like on Jupiter and Mars_

 _In other words_

 _Hold my hand_

 _In other words, darling, kiss me_

 _Fill my heart with song_

 _And let me sing forever more_

 _You are all I long for_

 _All I worship and adore_

 _In other words_

 _Please be true_

 _In other words_

 _I love you_

Then Eren, Jean, Krista, and Sasha jumped in alternating who took the lead of the melody with Armin, Annie, and Marco giving backup. As the song began to wrap Mikasa retuned

 _In other words_

 _Please be true-_

 _In other words_

 _In other words_

 _I . love. you-_

This is when something went wrong the piece was supposed to end with a few piano strikes but Armin now at this point exhausted after multiple songs forgot his time and the song ended abruptly with no real send off. For a moment the audience was quiet then caught o that the song was over and began to applaud. Glancing over at Armin Annie could see a clear lair of sweat on his head giving a quick nod to Marco they began on of there instrumental pieces by Miller that mostly featured Sasha and Jean.

Setting down her bass Annie grabbed a water and went over to Armin silently handing him the bottle he drank it down in a quick couple of gulps and wiped his head

"Can you keep going?" Annie mouthed silently as to not disturb the rest of the performance

Armin silently nodded a new fire in his eyes

"You sure?" Annie mouthed

Once again nodding this time more vigorously Annie knew he had his heart set.

"Alright" she mouthed and returned to her bass just as the song finished

This was how the night seemed to proceed for almost two hours every now and again Armin would slip up in some small way but as the night progresses the slipups became worse.

Finally finishing there the last song and as all the people milled about Armin let out an exhausted sigh of defeat.

"Are you ok Armin?" Annie said squatting down in front of him

"I… failed," he said his head down "I just couldn't keep it together"

"Look these things happen," Annie said taking his head in her hands and lifting it so they were at eye level, kissing him once on the lips she said "the best thing we can do is move on and try again next time, ok"

"Ok," Armin said as Annie pulled him into a hug

"Don't worry we did fine, plus we get to go home tomorrow morning?" Annie said "so something to look forward to"

"Hey, boss that was great!" Sasha said as Annie pulled Armin up

"Ya, it sounded great!" Marco said patting Armin and Annie on the back

"I think we need more pieces now," Jean said

"I'd like some more vocal pieces," Mikasa said as she and Eren joined the forming circle

"You guys enjoyed it?" Annie said

"Hell ya," Krista said stopping to look around as everyone looked at her shocked "oh come on quit looking at me like that and let go get some drinks"

As everyone sat around one of the large booths and talked about the highs and lows of the performance Annie excused herself to go speak with Erwin and Mr. Shadis in the loading area

"So, what's your call," Annie said

"It will take time for me to make a decision" Keith said

"Cut the crap shadis and tell me if we get to keep performing," Annie said

"For now yes," Keith said "good job, but remember I'll be watching"

"I'm counting on it," Annie said meeting his gaze

As she returned to the booth she suddenly felt a pang of joy as she watched Sasha spin tales or everyone once again and thought 'i'm less there boss and more there mom' with that thought in mind she sat with family and enjoyed the rest of their night in Trost.

 **Thank you all for reading, sorry I've been gone but I'm back now and we're going to keep moving so bare with me.**

 **fox**


	35. the new 104th chapter 9

**The new 104th chapter 9**

"What the hell is this crap!" Eren said frustrated

"It's just pre-calculus," Armin said

"yelling at it won't make it any easier," Mikasa said from the other side of the table where she was watching the show

"I wish it did" Eren grumbled under his breath

"Hey Armin are you ready to go," Annie said as she came out of their room and into the living room

"ya, you ready?" Armin said getting up from his seat

"Where you off to?" Mikasa asked

"we gotta head to the doctor, why," Armin asked, "you need to go somewhere?"

"Ya I gotta head to the bank and the market," Mikasa said "if you don't mind me coming with you"

"Sure let's go," Armin said as he grabbed his jacket and they set off

"Don't work too hard," Mikasa said kissing Eren on the head

All they heard was a quiet grumble as they set off

The walk to the doctor's office was not a long, just a little more than fifteen minutes, but at this time of year, the mornings were starting to get colder.

Blowing on her hands Annie said "it's about time the weather starts cooling down, I'm done with summer for a while"

"You say that now but in the middle of the winter your going to be begging for the sun," Armin said with a chuckle

"I agree with Annie," Mikasa said "winter means tea, and snow, and blankets"

"I'd rather take a coffee but sure something like that" Annie said with a smile "but it also means back to classes"

"That's true," Mikasa said, you already finish your schedule?"

"Ya I finished it before we left for Trost, and you?" Annie said

"No, not yet," Mikasa said "I've been waiting for Eren to finish too"

"Good luck with that" Armin said "man would let the house burn because he got distracted"

"It's part of the charm," Mikasa said with a snicker

As they made it to the doctor's office Armin and Annie went to check in as Mikasa immediately took a seat and began studying up on old fashion magazines. After a few minutes of waiting a nurse came out to get Annie.

"I'll just be a minute," Annie said as she left with the nurse

Grabbing a magazine Armin made himself comfortable. The magazines were none too interesting mostly months old fashion and food. After ten or twelve minutes, the nurse came back out without Annie.

"Excuse me your the boyfriend?" the nurse said

"Yes," Armin said, "is something wrong?"

"No, the doctor would just like to see you as well," the nurse said "if you'll please follow me"

Confused Armin followed the nurse to one of the patient's rooms where Armin saw Annie and Dr. Yeager.

Dr. Yeager was Eren's grandfather, an elderly man with gray receding hair and a big nose.

"Ah, Mr. Arlert come in sit down," the old man said gesturing to the seat next to Annie "so how have you been my boy"

"Good sir" Armin said

"Of everything's fine, her back should be back to normal in a couple of weeks, so long as ya take it a little easy," he said lightly poking Annie with his cane "now I wanted to talk to both of you"

"About what exactly" Annie said seeming as confused as Armin

"Well from what you've told me miss Lionheart is you two have been together for almost a year, and while I know you are both grown adults I figure it's my duty as your doctor to check in with you on safe sex habits"

Instantly both Armin and Annie went began to blush not wanting to look at dr. Yeager

"Well your expressions is at least a good sign," dr. yeager said

The next ten minutes were some of the most awkward moments of both Armin's and Annie's lives, as dr. yeager rambled on about the probability of having an unexpected baby and where to go for protection, and generally just persuade them into not making decisions out of lust.

As they made their way out of the patient room dr. yeager said, "so how are Eren and Mikasa?"

"Their fine, both the same as usual," Armin said "Mikasa's here with us if you wanna talk to her"

As they made it to the main waiting area Mikasa looked up from her magazine and smiled, getting up she hugged dr. yeager

"How are you old man?" Mikasa said

"Oh my dear these old bones could be better, how are you how's the Eren?" Dr. yeager said

"Eren's fine, he's still mad at Grisha, but fine," Mikasa said with a smile

"Fe, blockheads both of them" Dr. yeager said getting a laugh out of the three young adults

"Doctor your next patients are waiting" the nurse called from the front desk

"Oh dadgummit that's right, I'll be seeing you, kids, later, tell Eren to pull his head out his arse" Dr. Yeager said as he slowly walked to the next patients. And so Armin, Annie, and Mikasa left Dr. Yeager's office and began making their way to the local market.

Eren sat in silence working on his late work when he heard a knock on the door, getting up with a grumble he opened the door to reveal Reiner and Bertolt

"Hey Eren," Reiner said, "where's Annie and Armin?"

"I don't know, they left somewhere," Eren said "wanna come in and wait for them"

"Sure why not," Reiner said as he and Bertolt crossed the threshold "what you been up to?"

"Just some work," Eren said as he went and grabbed a couple of sodas "have you heard anything about the football season?"

"Ya couch Weilman says we're gonna start practice soon," Reiner said "you ready"

"Ya," Eren said taking a long drag of his soda "beats sitting around"

"I heard you been doing more than sitting around," Reiner said

"We heard you joined Annie and her little crew," Bertolt said

"Ya, it's alright," Eren said "tough as hell, but alright"

"How's Annie these days?" Reiner said after a moment of silence

"She's fine I guess," Eren said "her and Armin seem happy"

There was no response as Reiner and Bertolt quickly glanced at each other, the silence was finally broken as Reiner said "alright Eren thanks for the sodas but we gotta get going"

"Alright see ya later," Eren said as he walked them to the door and returned to his work

"So what did you need Mikasa?" Armin said

"Just need some things for Shubun no hi," Mikasa said

"What's that?" Annie said

"It's a holiday from my mother's side," Mikasa said with a sad smile "we celebrate by remembering our ancestors, so I go and I clean my parent's graves"

"That's very nice Mikasa," Annie said

"Anyway I'll catch up with you guys in a little bit," Mikasa said as she made her way into the market

"Alright well we got a while to kill," Armin said

"How about coffee?" Annie said with a smile "there should be a little cafe somewhere around here"

As they walked Armin hesitantly reached out with his hand for her's his face beet red. Taking her hand in his hesitantly, and so they walked hand in hand daring not look at each other.

As they got to the cafe Armin read the sign "the wall, sounds nice"

As they entered the first thing Armin noticed was the walls, on each wall there was writing.

There was all manner of writings names, confessions, wishes, and of course curses.

As they sat down a server came to take their orders Armin got a mint tea, and Annie a dark roast and a piece of french bread. As the server left Annie rested her chin on her hands.

"Something wrong?" Armin asked concerned

"It's nothing," Annie said as she reached for a napkin

Hesitantly Armin reached out his hand to her's and again asked "what's wrong, please tell me"

Letting out a sigh Annie let her shoulders slump as she said "I miss playing violin like I really miss it"

Armin grind like a fool as he said "well then let's go get you a gig"

"Who the hell are you gonna do that?" Annie said

"Not sure but if I find you a gig will you play?" Armin said almost challengingly

With a smirk, Annie said "your on"

after a moment of silence, Armin began to laugh

"What's so funny" Annie demanded

"Nothing, it's just your cute when you get mad," Armin said his face turning red from the laughter and embarrassment.

 **Alright thanks for reading, I hope you are enjoying reading as much as I enjoy writing so let me know it helps keep me going to know there's someone reading**

 **fox**


	36. the new 104th chapter 10

**The new 104th chapter 10**

Krista slowly opened her eyes as she felt a comforting warmth all around her. Blinking her eyes open she reached up to rub her eyes, clearing the gunk and improving her vision.

Looking around she saw she was in the small studio apartment she and Ymir shared. The small loft was not much to brag about but it was home. Looking down she found herself on the soft brown couch that sat in the living room, with a blanket covering her.

Stretching out she felt the couch moving under her wait. Shocked Krista sat up to see the sleeping face of her roommate, friend, lover? Ymir.

Taking a moment she let the memory of the previous night creep into her memory…

" _Krista?" Ymir said as she sat on the couch_

" _Yes?" Krista said from the small kitchen_

" _Can... Can I ask you something" Ymir said turning to face the tv_

" _You just did," Krista said with a giggle as she wrapped her arms around Ymir from behind_

" _I'm being serious," Ymir said as she got up from the couch still looking away._

" _Ymir?... Ymir what wrong?" Krista said walking around the couch to face Ymir "please Ymir tell me what's wrong"_

" _It's nothing," Ymir said turning away "forget it"_

 _Hesitantly Krista reached out and tugged at Ymir's dark sweater "please Ymir look at me"_

 _Head down Ymir turned to look at the short blonde "it's nothing angel" Ymir said flashing her a smile_

" _Don't you "angel" me, what is wrong Ymir" Krista demanded stomping her foot_

 _Letting out a little chuckle Ymir said "you know you're really cute when you're mad"_

" _Ymir, you better tell me or so help me!..." Krista began_

" _Alright, alright," Ymir said with a heavy sigh she sat back down_

" _Well" Krista demanded_

" _Krista … I …. Would … would you …. Would you still be with me…. Even if I did something 'bad'" Ymir choked out looking away as she finished_

" _Oh Ymir, please don't say that," Krista said taking Ymir's head in her hands and pulling her close "no matter what you do, I will always be here with you peanut"_

 _Bringing her head up Krista kissed Ymir on the lips, pulling away for a moment she stared into the eyes of her lover._

" _How did I end up with such an angel," Ymir said as she pulled Krista onto her lap and kissed her deeply, pulling away after a minute just to attack at the smaller girls neck._

Shaking her head Krista smiled as the rest of the previous night faded into inexorable ecstasy. Throwing off the blanket Krista quietly gather the scattered articles of her clothes, covering Ymir again she planted a kiss on her forehead and whispered "don't get up, I'll be back with breakfast" and so making her way out of the building she hailed a cab and directed the driver to a small cafe a couple of blocks away.

"alraheet boy your first job is ta go with Sasha ayn' get some groceries, ya got that?"

Taking a moment to translate Connie quickly nodded his head and said "I won't let you down sir"

"Sure ya won't," Mr. Blouse said "an if ya do, ay'll fire you before ya even start"

"Right," Connie said As he and an unusually quiet Sasha began making their way out of the small restaurant

"An remember boy, na funny business," Mr. Blouse said "same goes for ya too Sasha"

"What do ya think he meant when he said ' _funny business'_?" Sasha asked as they walked to the market

"I don't know, I kinda don't wanna know," Connie said "I definitely need this job, and its nice that your dad's giving me a break, plus I think he'd gun me down if he caught me doing any ' _funny business'_ "

"No need to worry, there will be no ' _funny business'_ with me to guide you, plus he's more of a bow and arrow kinda person and WOW LOOK A PUPPER!" Sasha said as she got distracted

With a heavy sigh, Connie said "I'm doomed"

"How about we go back to Trost?" Armin asked as he and Annie continued to figure out where and even when they would go on vacation

"What about Stohess?" Annie said "we could see the capital, I've heard there's a nice festival in the winter"

"We could actually take the train, it shouldn't be more than a couple of hours," Armin said as the trip began to take on flesh

"The only problem is money," Annie said as she took a sip of her coffee

"We could always borrow," Armin said hesitantly

"From who, Eren?" Annie said "we already owe his family so much"

"That's true," Armin said in agreement he knew that Eren's father paid for the apartment they stayed in, and any little expenses, hell even dr. yeager saw them for a reduced price.

"Armin, Annie!"

Turning quickly Armin and Annie saw the small frame of Krista waving at them quickly paying for her cups of coffee she made her way over to the table they were sitting at.

"Hey Armin, Annie!" Krista said as she pulled a chair to sit with them "how are you both"

"Fine, just waiting for the break to end, then back to business as usual," Armin said

"Ya, I know that feeling," Krista said, "and you Anine how's your back doing?"

"Better" Annie said

"We just saw dr. yeager about it, says she'll be fine" Armin said as he lightly squeezed Annie's hand under the table.

"And how about you, how are you recovering?" Annie asked

"Oh fine, been spending most days indoors," Krista said

"Doesn't look like you've had much sleep?" Armin said observing Krista's smeared makeup and messy hair.

"Ya me and Ymir were… ah watching a movie late last night" Krista said catching herself from embarrassment "anyway have you heard about any new gigs?"

"I was actually talking to Erwin a few days ago and he said there a actually a bunch of small bit jobs that would do good for us," Annie said

"That's good, it's nice to have somewhere to be again," Krista said, "have you thought about where we're going to practice?"

"No, not yet, I need to see what clubs are taking what room's," Annie said

"Ya gods know that damned book club always wants the best room," Krista said "anyway I gotta go, Ymir should be awake by now, I'll see you later"

"Her and Ymir really need to quit messing around so much," Annie said a little louder then she had intended to

"What do you mean?" Armin said

Caught off guard Annie quickly said "nothing, nevermind" as she turned away "we should go get Mikasa before it gets any later"

"Alright," Armin said downing the last of his tea "let's go"

 **Alright everyone thanks for reading, I hope you're enjoying if you are please leave me some review, keeps me going**

 **fox**


	37. the new 104th chapter 11

The new 104th chapter 11

"Do you have the list?" Connie asked as he and Sasha wandered the isles of the large general market.

"Of course I have the list," Sasha said as she patted at her Jeans and jacket pockets searching for the small list of supplies

"Did you really lose it!" Connie said as he stopped pushing the shopping cart

"No!" Sasha said as she began turning out her pockets "it's here somewhere"

"You had one job, just one job!" Connie said pinching the brow of his nose "what are we gonna do now?"

"We'll wing it," Sasha said giving up on finding the list

"Wing it!?" Connie said, "what happened to no 'funny business'?"

"Look man I…" Sasha began until she heard someone calling her and Connie's name

Spinning around Sasha and Connie saw Mikasa with a shopping cart "Sasha, Connie" Mikasa said, "how are you?"

"Fine" Sasha said, "what about you?"

"Eh, not too bad, what about you Connie?" Mikasa asked

"Fine, just great," Connie said frustrated as he continued to search his pockets

Confused Mikasa shot a glance at Sasha who said "don't mind him, he's just a little grumpy"

"Oh nothing, just Sasha's dad is gonna pop a cap in my ass if we don't come back without what he asked for," Connie said giving up on the search

"Like I said he prefers the bow," Sasha said

"That's not much better," Connie said

"Look you just need to think positive" Sasha said

"Positive!? how the hell am I…" Connie said but stopped as he and Sasha both heard Mikasa giggling uncontrollably

"Did I miss something?" Sasha asked Connie as Mikasa began to clutch her side in a painful laugh

"what are you laughing at?" Connie asked

"Ya, what's wrong?" Sasha said shaking the trembling Mikasa

"It...it's … jus...just… your shoe" Mikasa managed to wheeze out

"My shoe?" Sasha asked confused as she took a look at her old black and white sneakers "what am I looking for…" suddenly she stopped as she saw on the corner of her right heel a long piece of paper, quickly grabbing it she that it was the shopping list. "Hey, Connie check it out it's the shopping list!"

"You mean to tell me you had that stuck to your shoe this whole time!?" Connie said "and you didn't even notice"

Shrugging Sasha said "guess not" as she began prancing away

Between the occasional giggle, Mikasa said "ya. Your doomed" as she patted Connie on the shoulder and followed Sasha.

Catching up with the two women Connie heard Sasha say "so Mikasa what are you up to?"

"A bit of shopping is all" Mikasa said "what about you two"

"Sasha's dad sent us to gather some stuff for Dauper," Connie said

"He's considering hiring Connie as my personal assistant" Sasha said sticking her head up as to receive praise

"More like babysitter," Connie said poking her in the ribs

"So your dad is giving you the cafe?" Mikasa asked

"Ya he's found a little place in Trost to make the shop," Sasha said "and so I'm gonna be in charge of the shop here"

"Well that's great Sasha, so now what?" Mikasa asked

"Papa's gotta finish remodeling the new place but as of this morning I am now in charge," Sasha said proudly

"Don't get too confident?" Connie said flicking her in the head "we still need to get all the stuff before you can officially take over"

"Yea," Sasha said where Connie flicked her "papa decided to give us one last test"

"you want some help?" Mikasa said

"Oh Mikasa, you angel on earth!" Sasha said hugging her "alright let's go!"

"What about the third floor of the PA building?" Armin said, "there should be a room we could practice in there, right?"

"No I think the drama department uses these rooms for section rehearsals," Annie said, "what about in the MTF building?"

"Definitely not, the medical students don't even have enough room for themselves" Armin pointed out "let alone us too"

"Maybe we should talk to erwi…" Annie began to say before Armin's phone began to buzz

Looking at it quickly armin said "Mikasa's helping Sasha and Connie, she said we could head home"

"well then let's go home, this cold is no good" Annie said rubbing her arms

As Eren sat at the kitchen table almost done with the last problem he suddenly heard a loud

rapping at the front door and muttering, getting up he opened the door to find Jean and Marco.

"Where's the boss!?" Jean said

"Nice to see you too," Eren said, "she's not home, why?"

"We need to talk to her, we found a new gig," Marco said

"Might as well come in?" Eren said moving out of the doorway "she should be home soon"

Moving to the table Eren closed his textbook

"Early studying?" Marco said looking at the cover of the thick book

"I wish," Eren said "Armin's been trying to get me to retake the placement test so I can start in a higher class"

"And how's that working out for yea?" Jean said dryly

"As well as you would think," Eren said glaring at Jean as he brought a pot of warm coffee and three cups "so what's this gig you've got?"

"No money" Marco started "but a good way to get our name out there"

"Yea, what do we have to do?" Eren asked

"See that's the hard part we need to compete with other band's from around the area," Jean said

"And that could be a problem in its own," Marco said "we have no clue how good those other bands are"

"How long do we have?" Eren said as he took a swig of his coffee

"We have till December, but we need to submit a sample first and that's in November," Marco said

"I say it's worth a shot," Jean said, "I mean what do we have to lose?"

Nodding his head in agreement Eren said "alright I'm in, but we'll see what the boss says when she gets back"

"I'm sure she'll agree," Jean said

"Why's that?" Eren asked

"Supposably Hitch has a new group she's rolling with and they've already submitted their application.

 **Sorry it's late the quarter just started and i had to figure all that horrible business out, but your not here to hear me complain, so thanks for reading, drop me a review it always helps.**

 **Fox**


	38. the new 104th chapter 12

**The new 104th chapter 12**

"Eren?, we're home" Armin called out as he and Annie returned from the coffee shop

"We're in here" Eren called out from the dining room "quick come here you and Annie"

Confused Annie looked at Armin and shrugged as they made their way to the table were Eren,

Marco, and Jean were sitting playing a game of cards and drinking coffee

"Marco, Jean" Annie said acknowledging the two men

"So what's up," Armin asked looking at the faces around the table

"Ok check it out" Marco began, "we think we found a gig.."

Annie's interest peaked, she sat at the table next to Jean and grabs herself a cup as well.

"Alright what do you got," she said

"It's called the IMC" Jean said

"The international music competition" Marco explained

"Ok, what do we need to do?" Annie asked

"We need to submit a recording, and that's how they decide if we get in," Marco said

"supposedly thousands of bands submit but only a handful get in"

"What's the prize?" Annie said

"No prize but, you can get some credit if you get to even the top twenty," Jean said

"Ok so let's just say we do submit a recording, and we do get in what then?" Armin asked

"Well, then we would go to marly where the…" Jean began to say but it was too late

"No, absolutely not," Annie said getting up from her chair and knocking it down "there is no way in heaven or in hell that you will get me to go anywhere near marly"

"Wait?.." Marco began

"I said no!" Annie said now pacing up and down

"Annie please just sit and…." Armin began trying to calm her

"No! And if any of you try to press this further I'll…" Annie said holding out a clenched fist but just couldn't think of anything

Quickly she made her way to the door grabbing her coat she let herself out. Half a step out the door she felt a hand on her wrist "Annie?" Armin said holding onto her wrist 'please let's just hear them out"

"I'm sorry Armin," Annie said as she put pressure on his hand, letting out a yelp he let go, quickly she took off down the hall and presumably out the building.

"Armin?" Eren said as he came running, having heard him yell "where's Annie?"

"I… I don't know," Armin said massaging his wrist "but I'm gonna go find out"

Eren simply stood there watching his friend follow suit.

"You did good boy," Mr. Blouse said as he inspected all of the groceries they had brought

"So do I get the job?" Connie asked anxiously as he sat with the bigger man

Not saying anything for a moment Mr. Blouse thought for a moment, turning to Sasha he said: "what do ya think?"

"Me?" Sasha said confused

"Yes you this is now your shop," Mr. Blouse said stretching his big hands out to fill the small main room "you make the decisions here now"

"This is mine?" Sasha said repeating her father

Not saying anything Mr. Blouse just nodded the feather in his hat bobbing up and down

"This is mine," Sasha said testing the words a big smile inching across her face "Connie this is mine" quickly she enveloped the shorter boy, turning Connie's face scarlet as she pulled him closer

"Congratulations Sasha," Mr. Blouse said offering her a hand to shake, Happily she took her father's hand. Addressing Connie now Mr. Blouse said "now it's your job to help keep this place up and running, and keep her out of trouble"

"Thank you, sir," Connie said surprised as the bigger man pulled them both into a bear hug

As Mikasa made her way back into the apartment building she was surprised when she found

Annie obviously flustered in the elevator.

"Annie," Mikasa said greeting the small blonde, no response. No concerned Mikasa tried again "Annie? is something wrong" still nothing

At this point Mikasa was upset, winding up Mikasa stuck her elbow in Annie's ribs, which produced a wail and sunk to the floor

Attention clearly got Mikasa said, "hey Annie, something wrong?"

With a sigh of defeat, Annie's shoulders slumped as she said "hey Mikasa" her voice low and defeated

"Something wrong?" Mikasa repeated offering Annie a hand up

Taking Mikasa's hand Annie pulled herself up wincing as she felt the bruise from Mikasa's elbow. As they rode the elevator up Annie told Mikasa about the tournament.

When all was said Mikasa pushed Annie in the ribs again this time Annie catching her hand just as it made contact "what are you of scared of going back to Marley for"

"It's complicated," Annie said shaking her head

"Complicated? complicated my ass!?" Mikasa said "you coward, you broke Armin's wrist because you're scared"

"That's not it and you know it damn it," Annie said getting frustrated

"Prove it," Mikasa said challenging Annie as the elevator came to a stop.

"How?" Annie asked confused

Stepping out Mikasa said "figure it out" and thusly the door's closed. For the seventh or eighth time in the day Annie let her head drop in defeat, pulling herself together Annie pushed the button for the ground floor. pulling out her phone she went to Armin's number.

Armin was sitting in the courtyard behind the apartment, exhausted he had searched, the lobby, the roof, and most of the yard but to no avail, now he was just tired and frustrated

' _Where could she have gone?'_ Armin thought as he massaged his throbbing wrist ' _does she not wanna go because of her dad?'_ Letting out a heavy sigh Armin rested his head in his hands for a few moments.

As Armin sat there frustrated he suddenly felt someone close, his heart jumping, he was relieved to see it was Annie. Head down, clutching her side Annie sat there waiting for Armin to notice.

"Armin?" Annie said, "I'm sor…"

Armin quickly cut her off by enveloping her in a hug "Annie where were you? are you ok? what is this all about?"

"Armin, I'm fine, I'm sorry I scared you," Annie said pulling out of the tight embrace "but we need to talk, alone"

"O... O.K" Armin said as Annie took his hand and lead him away from the courtyard

 **Alright everyone thanks for reading, drop me a review it always helps me keep going**

 **fox**


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